1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000
This episode is sponsored by Transcend, a veteran owned and operated performance optimization company that I introduced recently as a sponsor on this show.

2
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,080
Well, since then, I have actually been using my products and I've had incredible success.

3
00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:20,240
There was initial blood work that was extremely detailed, and based on that, they offered supplementation.

4
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:31,120
So I began taking DHEA, BPC157 for inflammation, based on the fact that I've been a stump man and martial artist and a firefighter my whole life, lots of aches and pains,

5
00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:37,120
dihexer to help cognition after multiple punches to the head and shift work and peptides.

6
00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:48,280
Four months later, they did a detailed blood work again, and I was actually able to taper off two of the peptides because my body had responded so well to just one of them that it was optimized at that point.

7
00:00:48,280 --> 00:01:01,680
So I cannot speak highly enough of the immense range of supplementation that they offer, whether it's male health, female health, peptides to boost your own testosterone, which I would argue is needed by a lot of the fire service,

8
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,960
or whether it's exogenous testosterone needed, especially after TBIs or advanced age.

9
00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:13,560
Now, as I mentioned before, the other side of this company is an altruistic arm called the Transcend Foundation,

10
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,120
which is putting veterans and first responders through some of their protocols free of charge.

11
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:28,120
Now, Transcend are also offering you the audience 10% off their protocols, and you can find that on jamesgearing.com under the products tab.

12
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:39,840
And if you want to hear more about Transcend and their story, listen to episode 808 with the founder Ernie Colling, or go to transcendcompany.com.

13
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,440
Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As always, my name is James Gearing, and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome back onto the show,

14
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:54,840
former Orange County Battalion Chief, entrepreneur and the author of Alone in the Fire, Steve Davis.

15
00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:06,280
Now I interviewed Steve along with Jason Wheat three years ago on episode 528, and that was immediately after his termination in connection with the vaccine mandates.

16
00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:18,240
Three years later, we revisit this topic. We see the journey that Steve has come along, the contents of his book, and we unpack all of the things from viewing the pandemic from the back end now,

17
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:27,440
the important takeaway lessons, advocating for the first responders who continue to be terminated on this issue, and so much more.

18
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,680
Now, before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment.

19
00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:38,960
Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback, and leave a rating.

20
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:46,160
Every single five star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for others to find.

21
00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:51,760
And this is a free library of almost 1000 episodes now.

22
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:57,680
So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories,

23
00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,360
so I can get them to every single person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.

24
00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:27,560
So with that being said, I welcome back onto the show, Steve Davis. Enjoy.

25
00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:35,720
Well, Steve, I want to start by saying firstly, welcome to my home. Last time I was in your home.

26
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:43,440
Yep. I sat down. We recorded episode 528 and it was you and Jason Wheat October 25th, 2021.

27
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:46,800
So I think you had just been let go from the county.

28
00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:56,600
Again, I was kind of coming out of the pandemic, having stood in the middle and said we need to make people healthier mentally and physically during this heresy at that time.

29
00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:01,600
But when it came to the vaccines, I had had a vaccination.

30
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,240
I went home to see my 105 year old grandmother.

31
00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:05,800
So it took one for the team for her.

32
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:07,320
I wouldn't have had it otherwise.

33
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:15,800
But again, I was vaccinated, but talking against the whole mandate thing, because understanding science, being in medicine for a long time,

34
00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:25,240
there was no way in hell that they were going to be able to prove that this basically flu shot that we all know is kind of a Russian roulette of if you get the right strain or not,

35
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,600
was 100% effective that you could justify termination.

36
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:33,560
So that was when we first sat down October 25th, 2021.

37
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:42,520
So what I want to do in this conversation is kind of roll it back, kind of give an overview of your early life again for people that haven't heard that episode.

38
00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,080
And then we'll kind of pick up from where we last spoke and then really dig in deep from there.

39
00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:50,120
All right, so let's start the very beginning.

40
00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:51,480
Tell me where you were born.

41
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,240
Tell me a little bit about your family dynamic.

42
00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,320
What did your parents do and how many siblings?

43
00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,160
So, James, thanks.

44
00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:58,760
Thanks for having me on the show again.

45
00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,160
It's a pleasure being here at your home.

46
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:05,160
I loved our first conversation almost three years ago.

47
00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,200
And it was, you're right, it was October 25th.

48
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,040
That would make it six days after my termination.

49
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:13,640
You were my first podcast.

50
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:19,320
And since your podcast, it's almost inspired me to start my own.

51
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,400
So I have my own show now called The Raising Alphas Project.

52
00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,400
And we talk about parenting.

53
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,200
We talk about leaders, not followers.

54
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:40,360
And that's one of our biggest drives for our show is to make sure that we're building leaders because in the society that we have today, we were kind of just talking about that off the record.

55
00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,920
But we don't have strong leaders.

56
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:44,760
You know, they're not millionaires.

57
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,720
The ones that are not millionaires are not there.

58
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,320
They're not getting the push.

59
00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:55,160
But I can tell you that I grew up in Orlando, East Orange County.

60
00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:59,000
So I'm a longtime resident of the department that I worked for.

61
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,840
I went to high school there.

62
00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:06,040
I attended a Christian Academy.

63
00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:07,880
My mom was a school teacher there.

64
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,920
My dad worked for Publix for years as a butcher.

65
00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,440
And, you know, that's really my family dynamic.

66
00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,600
I have a brother and I have two half sisters, both older than I am.

67
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,080
One is 10 years older, one six years older.

68
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,640
And I had a really good foundation as far as family life.

69
00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,240
My parents were married the entire time I was growing up.

70
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,840
They didn't get a divorce until I entered the fire service in 2000.

71
00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:36,360
I think it was 2008, but I entered in 2007.

72
00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,040
But it was a good home life.

73
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:41,640
We weren't wealthy.

74
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,600
We were lower middle class.

75
00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,320
But, you know, my parents made it happen.

76
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:48,200
Things happened for us.

77
00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:49,800
They made lots of sacrifices.

78
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,840
And, you know, that's pretty much my family dynamic.

79
00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,960
You know, three other people are three siblings.

80
00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,280
So that's pretty much my family life.

81
00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:00,520
What is your 9-11 story?

82
00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,320
Because I know you went into the military, but before we get to that point,

83
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,320
talk to me about how old you were and what you kind of saw through a young man's eyes.

84
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,440
So I'm third generation U.S. Army.

85
00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:11,320
I'm a soldier.

86
00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,800
I went into the Army in 99 in the delayed entry program.

87
00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,560
I went into basic training in the summer of 2000.

88
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,640
It's funny because, you know, all the training that I've done in my career,

89
00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:24,680
it's always in the summer.

90
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:25,320
It's always hot.

91
00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,600
And I don't know why I always get the hot times.

92
00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:34,920
But I did basic training in the Georgia heat up in Fort Benning, Georgia.

93
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,600
And it was a year before the attack set in New York.

94
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:46,520
And I will tell you that when it happened, I was stationed in Germany.

95
00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,640
I was a medic in the Army and I was stationed in Germany in an infantry unit.

96
00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,080
We were doing some training that day.

97
00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:53,960
We were out.

98
00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,120
We were getting ready to prepare for, I believe it was we were preparing for the

99
00:07:58,120 --> 00:07:59,240
expert field medic badge.

100
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,160
It's one of the most prestigious badges in the Army for medics.

101
00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,560
And we were training for that.

102
00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,600
And I remember our lieutenant, our second lieutenant called us in.

103
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,000
He was our platoon lieutenant, our platoon leader.

104
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,600
He had called us all in, brought us all into the aid station upstairs and said,

105
00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,440
hey, listen, we all sat around his desk looking at the TV.

106
00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:22,440
And they were talking about the World Trade Centers had just been hit by

107
00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:25,080
two planes.

108
00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,440
Now, at that moment, nothing had come down yet.

109
00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:30,600
They were still burning.

110
00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,880
And, you know, as a young man, I was, I think at the time I was 19.

111
00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,440
And I remember thinking, oh, you know, just a couple of planes.

112
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,720
I'm thinking small little Cessnas, you know, that kind of a singular, a single

113
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:46,680
plane, not double.

114
00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,480
I didn't think that there was one in the Pentagon.

115
00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:50,760
There was one in Pennsylvania.

116
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:51,880
I didn't hear all that yet.

117
00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,360
I only heard two planes hit the towers.

118
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,440
I'm thinking maybe some guys were screwing around or something as a young man.

119
00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:05,800
That's when we found out, listen, we are we're going to war and you know,

120
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:11,480
being an infantry unit, I remember going out of that meeting and having to go to

121
00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:13,320
the go get my rifle.

122
00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:15,080
They sent us down to the armory.

123
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:16,520
We started getting ammo.

124
00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:17,880
We got full battle rattle.

125
00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:19,800
We packed our bags ready to roll.

126
00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:26,040
Now we didn't roll anywhere at that moment, but being in a Ford unit somewhere

127
00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,440
in Germany and believing that the attacks are coming from somewhere in the

128
00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:31,880
Middle East, that's what we were being told.

129
00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,520
Those commanders prepped us, prepared us.

130
00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,000
Those leaders said, hey, listen, we got to get the troops ready.

131
00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,000
So that was that was where I was.

132
00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:41,240
Did you find yourself deployed eventually?

133
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:43,960
I was a very, I was one of the fortunate few.

134
00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,240
So I had lots of friends who did deploy.

135
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:48,040
I never did.

136
00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:57,480
In that year, 2001, at the end of that year, I'm trying to think, make sure I

137
00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:58,120
have my timeline.

138
00:09:58,120 --> 00:09:59,800
Oh no, it was 2002.

139
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,440
So the war began in March of 2003.

140
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:07,880
And in 2002, I was PCS saying I was leaving and going to another duty, duty

141
00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,720
assignment, and I had orders to go to flight medic program.

142
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:18,040
And my, my unit was going to be deploying to deploying to Kosovo for a

143
00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:19,160
peacekeeping mission.

144
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:20,920
Well, I asked to go.

145
00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,280
It got denied by my lieutenant.

146
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,720
He says, listen, if you go, then it'll mess up your orders going forward.

147
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,480
So I ended up not going to go.

148
00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:33,240
Honestly, I mean, looking back, I think God always has a plan and that even

149
00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,560
though I really wanted to go, he knew that who knows what would have happened.

150
00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:38,520
I could have been dead.

151
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,120
I've had, I have several close friends of mine in the army that are dead today.

152
00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,720
They didn't make it out and some died.

153
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:46,200
I'm right now.

154
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,560
We're going to talk about it later, but some died from, um, uh, they took their

155
00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:55,640
life, um, afterwards, but I can tell you that, you know, I'm not going to lie.

156
00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,400
Uh, I can tell you that, you know, God had a plan for me because he was prepping

157
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:01,800
me, uh, for a lifetime of leadership.

158
00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:03,800
And so that's where I look at that.

159
00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:05,160
I ended up not deploying anywhere.

160
00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:09,240
I ended up going to, uh, California and becoming a medic on a Blackhawk.

161
00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:11,960
And, uh, that's, that's where my military ended.

162
00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,080
We're going to get into the fire service medicine.

163
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,920
When you look back at all the training you had in the military, what was some

164
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,360
of the things that you were taught there that you think, you know, would be an

165
00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,040
asset to us in the civilian side.

166
00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:31,880
So the one thing and I've lived, um, I've lived to this, uh, since I was 17 is

167
00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,760
the army has an acronym called leadership and the acronym is spelled out L D R S H

168
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:41,480
H I P. And I've lived by that since I was 17, um, 42 years old.

169
00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:47,080
Now I still live to that by, by today's standard and what that stands for

170
00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,160
leadership, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and

171
00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,760
personal courage. And I've lived by that every single day.

172
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,520
And I know that that is the true core values of a real leader.

173
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,880
Um, and I think the army has done a really good job as far as developing leaders.

174
00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:05,560
Um, that's where it started.

175
00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:10,680
If you really start reading books, it starts in the military and building on

176
00:12:10,680 --> 00:12:11,400
those leaders.

177
00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:14,920
And I think the army did a really good job coming up with that acronym.

178
00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:16,520
And I, and I don't know if they have it today.

179
00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,520
I hope they still do, but I, I've lived by it since I was 17 years old.

180
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:28,200
And I would say that if, if someone is looking at being in a leadership role,

181
00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:30,200
I think that that's somewhere to start.

182
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:38,680
Now, if you're in the military, if you're in police, um, fire, if you're in a

183
00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:43,400
leadership role, maybe at a, at an organization that a business, I think

184
00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,080
that those still, those still core values still can be applied.

185
00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,800
Um, we can go down each one for as long as, you know, as long as we're going to

186
00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,960
talk, but I think you kind of get the idea that, you know, with leadership,

187
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,960
that acronym loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity,

188
00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:00,760
and personal courage.

189
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:07,320
I think if you stick to those, those, uh, seven letters, those in that

190
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,760
acronym, I think that you can really, uh, base your character on that.

191
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:11,800
Yeah.

192
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,600
I think that's the thing that when you are in the military, when you're in the

193
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,720
first responder profession, I would argue, you know, if you're a teacher,

194
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,240
there's many of these, these professions, you know, your, your goal is to make

195
00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:22,280
the world a little bit better.

196
00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:23,720
And I think that's what we're missing.

197
00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,720
Like you said, we, we spoke before I hit record and I've made this very clear

198
00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,320
in many, many podcasts, you know, to me, I'm standing in the middle, even as we

199
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,080
go into another election season, like, why do we keep getting these same kind

200
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:36,520
of people that we're forced to choose?

201
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,240
And I hear it from left and right, the lesser of two evils.

202
00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,400
What we need is selfless leaders that don't have to be in the middle of

203
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,520
leaders that don't have to be millionaires and don't have to take money

204
00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,280
from lobbyists that actually can just be a true leader of which I've had almost

205
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,800
a thousand episodes now, there's probably, you know, tens, if not hundreds

206
00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,760
of my guests that would be phenomenal in that position.

207
00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,840
So I think, yeah, that, that selflessness rather than that self-serving nature,

208
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:06,120
whether it's a, you know, a fire engine or a country that's such a, a kind of

209
00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,760
under discussed element of leadership.

210
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,200
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.

211
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:19,480
The leaders, unfortunately, I think in today's society, what I've noticed is,

212
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:23,080
and I, and I understand this, I understand this.

213
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:29,080
I saw this firsthand back in 2020, back in 2021, when I lost my career in the

214
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:37,720
fire service, but I, I realized this, people who get into leadership's

215
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:44,040
leadership positions, they rely on that position.

216
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:46,360
That's their income.

217
00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:52,920
So once you've gained, you've climbed this ladder of success, it's hard to

218
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:59,160
step off that ladder into uncharted territory to make decisions because you

219
00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,080
and I have both seen it in our careers where if you get out of line and say

220
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:08,280
something that you shouldn't as a leader, then you can almost be blackballed.

221
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,520
And then you don't get that next promotion or you don't get picked for this.

222
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,200
It's almost like the popularity contest.

223
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,480
In my case, I lost my career because I in quote unquote, stepped out of line.

224
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:26,120
Had I not stepped out of line, had I been a chief officer who, you know, I had it,

225
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:26,920
I had it made.

226
00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:32,360
It's funny because as a chief officer, and I joke with my wife about this is

227
00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:37,480
because, you know, when she come to the firehouse, I would, I would say, hey, do

228
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:38,200
you need anything?

229
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,080
Do you want anything?

230
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:40,040
And she's like, oh, I'm good.

231
00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,600
She's just, you know, just hanging out with me or whatever.

232
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:48,280
And she would, I said, you do know, I said, guys are going to come in here and

233
00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,520
asking you everything, washing your car.

234
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,080
If you want coffee, if you want something, you know, something like that.

235
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,240
And it's, it's crazy because I'm like, I was like, you get this level of respect

236
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,040
and, and, and it's a, it's a cool feeling.

237
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:02,760
I'm not going to lie.

238
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:03,560
It's a cool feeling.

239
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:08,760
And it's almost like, you know, my wife coming into the office, it's almost

240
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:09,720
like the first lady.

241
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,560
That's how I kind of explained it to her.

242
00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:16,040
And it's like, she had never seen that before, but when the guys came over and

243
00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,160
she came over for dinner, it was like, hey, you can sit anywhere.

244
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:20,040
What do you want to eat?

245
00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:21,080
Oh, we got dinner.

246
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:22,760
Don't everything's taken care of.

247
00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:28,680
And so I think what happens in the fire service and in any profession, you, you

248
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,040
become this leader and you don't want to step out of line because if you do that,

249
00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,800
that that goes every hard, every bit of hard work that you've worked for up

250
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:37,160
until that point is gone.

251
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,280
That's why I think we didn't see doctors being true leaders over the last few

252
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:49,000
years, because they're governed by, by someone else, you know, you work your

253
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,800
whole life to get, and you pay off your debt to be a doctor, an attorney,

254
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:59,720
whatever, and you don't step out of line because when you do, then now you're no

255
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,080
longer in the cool kids club and you could lose your career.

256
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,920
I know, I know several physicians who've lost their jobs around the world.

257
00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:11,400
I know firemen around the country, around the world who've lost their jobs,

258
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:15,720
you know, lost positions of, uh, you know, good positions, chief officer

259
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,240
position, captains, um, it's, it's just crazy.

260
00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,320
So I understand that's why we have a leadership problem today.

261
00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:22,200
Yeah.

262
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,760
And it was, it was completely apparent because, you know, when we go in the fire

263
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,000
service, you see someone with a load of stripes on their, their class, a jacket

264
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:32,520
or, you know, bugles on the collar.

265
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,640
You're like, oh, wow, this is, you know, this is who I'm going to follow into a

266
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:36,040
fire.

267
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:36,680
No question.

268
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,720
And then you spend a few years in the fire service and you're like, Oh, man,

269
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:44,040
like band of brothers analogy, you salute the rank, not the class, but the

270
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,600
analogy, you salute the rank, not the man.

271
00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:47,160
Correct.

272
00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,000
And you realize that some of these men, you will blindly follow into a fire

273
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:52,440
because they have walked the walk.

274
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,000
And there's other men, they tell you to go into the fire.

275
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,680
You're going to fucking turn right away because they have no idea what they're

276
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,120
doing because they, they sped up the ladder and avoided fires, you know?

277
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:06,040
And so, you know, no two leaders are the same, you know, there's a boss and a

278
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:06,440
leader.

279
00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,400
So, and then you saw it with the pandemic and I've talked about this so

280
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:10,200
many times.

281
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,520
If you wrote down how to make people sicker and more vulnerable to a disease,

282
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:16,760
that's exactly what people were told to do.

283
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,560
Don't be around people, stay on your own, you know, lose your autonomy, just stay

284
00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:23,800
in your house and we'll tell you when you can come out.

285
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,880
The gyms are closed, the beaches are closed, the parks are closed, you know,

286
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,320
but then you can go get fast food and alcohol delivered to your house while

287
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:32,600
you binge watch Tai Ge King.

288
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,080
And so this is the thing is I'm standing there going, what about health, whether

289
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,120
you believe in vaccines or not, whether you believe in masks or not, whether

290
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:44,120
you believe in vaccines or not, whatever your perception, we have a captive

291
00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:48,520
audience, we can affect the people's health now and we can fix some of the

292
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,840
issues that have made Americans so fat and sick.

293
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,880
And I mean that with compassion, but you look at statistics, they are fat and

294
00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:55,000
sick, 70%.

295
00:18:55,560 --> 00:19:00,600
So what a beautiful opportunity to turn that corner and, you know, put PE back

296
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,760
in schools, put real food back in schools, actually give the local farmers,

297
00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,760
you know, subsidies so they can make local, you know, clean food.

298
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:09,800
And it was the opposite.

299
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,880
All that stuff was literally held as heresy.

300
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,760
How dare you say that my hypertensive 300 pound grandma didn't die of COVID.

301
00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,760
And it's like that's an insult to everyone that responds on a rescue to

302
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,440
your grandmother for a CHF over and over and over again.

303
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,520
So this was the thing is where were the fucking leaders then when common sense

304
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,360
was completely discarded?

305
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,760
That's honestly during 2020, I asked a lot of these questions.

306
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:40,440
I, this is a year and a half before I got fired and this may have been the, the

307
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:46,920
foundation that I was laying for my termination because I was very outspoken.

308
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,760
I was an individual that was asking questions like you are, you are telling me

309
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:55,000
that we are sending an engine and a rescue to people's homes every day for

310
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:55,880
every single call.

311
00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,520
And now that this is the deadliest plague that's hit mankind.

312
00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:02,840
Now I'm only sending two people.

313
00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:07,720
And these two people are getting, they're getting murdered all day long on a

314
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:08,440
rescue.

315
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,720
The, the engine companies were hanging out of the firehouses.

316
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,320
You know, we were playing pickleball.

317
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:13,960
Okay.

318
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:17,400
And the rescues were getting, getting murdered.

319
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:18,840
They were, they were in and out, in and out.

320
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,040
I remember, and I, and I talk about this, I've talked about this before, but I

321
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,360
remember a young man, a young guy on the, a, came in, coming in.

322
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:27,880
He wasn't assigned to the station.

323
00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:28,440
Okay.

324
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,680
He had got floated in and he had been out all morning running around

325
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:33,480
running calls.

326
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:34,040
Okay.

327
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,840
And he had gotten, and we were putting everybody in that, the Tyvek suits, the

328
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:39,560
Tyvek suits.

329
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:39,960
Yeah.

330
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,880
And so he was coming back and having to change his shirt and pants every single

331
00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,960
time, cause it was soaked and then he'd get less than a minute or whatever to

332
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:48,440
change.

333
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,600
He had three shirts, maybe two pairs of pants by noon.

334
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,760
He had gone through everything and I had to find him a pair of parents, a pair of,

335
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,960
uh, uh, some shirts, why his stuff was being washed.

336
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,840
And this is the kind of, this is the kind of environment.

337
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:07,640
So I was, I was constantly asking my leadership as a chief officer.

338
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,360
I was asking my leadership is what are these guys going to do?

339
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:11,720
Are they taking it home to their families?

340
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,160
What happens when their family gets sick?

341
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,320
Are we covering, are we covering medical expenses when these guys get sick and

342
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:18,440
they take it to their families?

343
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:19,080
Okay.

344
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:20,120
What are we doing for this?

345
00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:23,640
What, what if we don't have, we didn't have the mask at first and then, then

346
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:27,960
the mask came out and it said, not for, not for COVID use or whatever.

347
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,920
Uh, it won't, won't protect from COVID, you know, and then, uh, and then, you

348
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:37,000
know, people calling out sick or sending people home sick and mandating people

349
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,000
day to day to day.

350
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:44,840
It just, we weren't getting any answers and it was like our leadership was like,

351
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:46,680
well, I'm here till five and then I'm going home.

352
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:49,240
We'll figure it out tomorrow.

353
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:50,600
I'm here till five.

354
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:51,560
We'll figure it out tomorrow.

355
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:52,360
You know,

356
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,640
Well, it's the same thing I'm fighting now with, with the work week, you know,

357
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:57,080
I put a post up a while ago.

358
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,600
The people that say firefighters should work 56 hours a week, go home at five

359
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,360
every day and they work 40 hours.

360
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:05,720
Let that sink in.

361
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,720
The people that are opposing you getting more rest and recovery and opposing, you

362
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,800
know, the issues that will solve the recruitment crisis is causing so much

363
00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,320
mandatory overtime that's keeping responders from their families 80 plus

364
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:18,040
hours a week.

365
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:20,120
They go home after 40.

366
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:21,560
You know what, man?

367
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:26,680
I get phone calls daily, text messages daily from my family.

368
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:30,920
From guys that we worked with asking me what I'm doing.

369
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,440
They see that I'm doing well.

370
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,960
They see that I'm out of the fire service and I tell them, I said, I love

371
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:36,680
the fire department.

372
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:37,240
I really do.

373
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,160
I had every intent on making it a long term, a long term career.

374
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,520
That was my dream, my passion since I was a kid.

375
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,000
I asked it to be it in the fire in the army.

376
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,600
Unfortunately, they had gotten rid of it just as I was getting in.

377
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:58,840
I got out just to go in and I see these guys today and they're miserable.

378
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,160
They hate, they hate going into shift.

379
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,240
They hate dealing with station life.

380
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,000
Station life is not the brotherhood.

381
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:13,640
Guys are in their bunks on their phones, messing around on whatever social media

382
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,600
account they have and or they're running their business on the side.

383
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:19,640
Maybe they have real estate.

384
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:25,320
Maybe they have a landscaping business and they're managing it or maybe they're

385
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,080
doing something on the side.

386
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,800
These are the things that I get phone calls all the time.

387
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:32,920
Guys are just unhappy.

388
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:34,360
They're constantly getting hammered.

389
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,360
Whether it's on an engine, a rescue, a truck, a squad.

390
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,480
They're getting hammered day in, day out.

391
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,160
It's like no one cares.

392
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:47,240
It's like, well, you got to work again today.

393
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:47,640
Sorry.

394
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:48,520
Yeah.

395
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:49,880
Don't know what to tell you.

396
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,600
Well, this is what I talk about is no one's complaining about the job.

397
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,240
No one's saying, oh my God, these hoses are so heavy.

398
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:58,920
Oh, this ladder is so tall.

399
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:00,040
I don't want to climb it.

400
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:00,600
No one's saying that.

401
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:01,160
Some people are.

402
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,640
Well, yeah, but that's what happens when you lower hiring standards.

403
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:04,920
But that's a whole different conversation.

404
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:07,560
We can go on for a long time on that one.

405
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,440
But it's the working environment.

406
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:11,800
It's the working conditions.

407
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:13,240
And I was just talking to someone.

408
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,000
There's an EMS department in Virginia.

409
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,360
I just posted about it this morning.

410
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:22,120
They, one of their guys, Ben, has been going back and forth with me for a few years.

411
00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:23,960
And he started talking about 2472.

412
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,120
And at that time I said, and I said, well, Boca is the one I know that's gone to it.

413
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,240
And since then I've had a whole bunch of conversations on it.

414
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,200
And then we were going back and forth and they've gone to it.

415
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,520
And they just, it was in EMS one.

416
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,400
They had the biggest medic and EMT hiring they've ever had.

417
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:39,720
Yeah.

418
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:40,840
Because they changed.

419
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:42,040
They didn't change the job.

420
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,280
They just changed the working conditions.

421
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:49,400
So this is the thing is no one's complaining apart from, like I said, that group, no one's saying

422
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:50,840
I don't want to be a firefighter.

423
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:52,440
No one's saying I don't want to be a medic like you.

424
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:53,400
I love being a medic.

425
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,000
I love, I didn't want to be in a hospital.

426
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,000
I want to be a firefighter, but that's where you save lives in the back of a rig.

427
00:24:59,000 --> 00:24:59,400
It is.

428
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:05,640
But if you're running on complete BS and then what happened to me so much in Orange County,

429
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:11,640
which is why I had to go to Reedy Creek because I was a single dad, was 730, the phone rings

430
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,240
gearing, you got to stay another shift.

431
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,800
I was like, you're telling me I've got, I got a home.

432
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,080
So you just met my son.

433
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:17,400
Yep.

434
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,920
You know, when he was, when we're talking now, like he had his own.

435
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:21,320
Yeah.

436
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:21,960
Yeah.

437
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,440
You know, and you're telling me I can't go home.

438
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:25,960
That's that's not how it works.

439
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:30,200
You're not the only, only single father in Orange County that has dealt with that.

440
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:31,320
No, exactly.

441
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,800
There are other men out there that have dealt with that.

442
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:38,520
There are women out there that have dealt with that and they constantly, there are spouses

443
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,720
out there that there are firefighters out there.

444
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,480
They have a spouse that works for another department and they were doing a trade off

445
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,640
every morning or they've made it so they're at the same firehouse.

446
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:50,280
Okay.

447
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,840
And it's, it's a, it's a child swap right there at seven o'clock in the morning.

448
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,480
One comes in, one goes home and well, one's getting mandatory while the other one's got

449
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:00,760
to work at 24.

450
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:01,720
What do you do?

451
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:02,280
What do you do?

452
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:03,320
Yeah.

453
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:04,280
And mandatory is fine.

454
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,320
You know, we have a hurricane coming in and it's going to batter, you know, central

455
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:07,800
Florida.

456
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,240
That's when you have to call the grandparents or whoever, which I don't have any of those.

457
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:17,960
But, but if you have this every single week, if you're avoiding it every single week, it

458
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:19,480
takes a toll on an individual.

459
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:19,800
Yeah.

460
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:20,360
But you know what?

461
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,520
This is a, this is the problem in the fire services.

462
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,000
You know, we, we talk about the brotherhood.

463
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:25,640
I've seen it.

464
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,400
I've seen it firsthand, you know, the brotherhood on a good side, but I've also seen the bad

465
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:34,120
side of the brotherhood, how it doesn't really exist anymore because too many firefighters,

466
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,840
too many, too many fire service personnel will.

467
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,880
They will screw their brother to get, get away.

468
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:43,960
I've seen guys do it.

469
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,320
Like I don't want to get hit, but I don't care if you get hit.

470
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,880
And if I leave now and skate out, I've seen guys do it.

471
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,440
No, tell them, not here, skate out.

472
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,800
And then now you get, you get banged and you just got banged last shift.

473
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:03,720
And so I've seen it so, so many times as a chief, as a lieutenant, you know, as a

474
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,400
fireman, I didn't really pay attention to it because I was only getting hit.

475
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:08,040
That's the thing.

476
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,320
You just shrug your shoulders and go, okay, because you just think that's normal and

477
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,240
then you emerge and go, wait a second.

478
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:13,880
Right.

479
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,160
You start really noticing it.

480
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:21,880
And that's, that's, that's what's real sad, you know, not sure, not, I think that's a

481
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:22,520
leadership issue.

482
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,840
I think that's a, I think there's a lot of things that could, we could bring into why

483
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,000
that, that problem still exists, why that that's starting to become more prevalent.

484
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,040
In the fire service.

485
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,640
Yeah. Well, I don't want to go down the whole 24 72 conversation because I want to keep

486
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,040
it on, on topic, but that is the solution.

487
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,480
But, um, so let's go back to the military.

488
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,720
The transition often is very jarring and we'll talk about leaving the fire service

489
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,800
and get to there, but especially our military members, you know, they've become

490
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,720
veterans, you've got this identity.

491
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,200
A lot of them came right out of high school into uniform.

492
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,160
Again, as someone pointed out the other day, you know, you've got your food, you've

493
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,280
got your clothing, you've got your, you've got your, you've got your, you've got your

494
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,840
clothing, you've got your stipends, you've got all the things.

495
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,480
And then now you lost your identity, you lost your tribe, you've lost your sense of

496
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,600
purpose, you know, and you're out into the cruel world.

497
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,320
Some of which has prepared you for some of which is kind of alien.

498
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:15,720
What was your transition like?

499
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,400
And then are there, you mentioned other, other friends that you lost by suicide.

500
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,440
What was some of the dark kind of transitions that you've seen as well?

501
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,960
So, you know, when I got out of the army, I had every intent to go back.

502
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:35,720
My goal, so I was living in California and I flew back here to Florida, two

503
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,680
different weekends to take testing, to test.

504
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,760
And I remember standing for the written test.

505
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,120
It was like 1500 people standing in line for 30 spots.

506
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:49,160
And I also remember getting all the way through and I remember, okay, I'm going

507
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,000
to put in my paperwork to leave the military.

508
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,560
And so when I got out, I ended up not getting picked up with Orange County.

509
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,080
It was kind of funny too, because I was in the greatest shape.

510
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,200
Well, I'm in the greatest shape now, but at the time, you know, I was, I was really

511
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:04,440
fit.

512
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:05,480
I had just been training.

513
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:07,320
I was training to go into the special forces.

514
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,840
I ended up going into a selection.

515
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,320
It's called a special forces assessment and selection.

516
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:14,120
Greenberry selection.

517
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:14,600
Greenberry.

518
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:15,160
Yep.

519
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:16,920
And I ended up doing, it was a four week course.

520
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,240
I made it three weeks and then failed out.

521
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:24,840
And so I had been training for months because my, my buddy was, he had made it

522
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,200
through a selection and then he and I ran into each other.

523
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:29,480
I was in phase one.

524
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:35,560
He was in phase two and, but I was in really good shape, but I remember making

525
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:41,080
it through the test and I had one of the top, I think they call it a PAT at the

526
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,520
time and now they call it the CPAT, but it was the PAT at the time.

527
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,240
And I had one of the fastest times at then.

528
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:47,960
Okay.

529
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:54,600
And I remember there was a young, a young girl with me and she ended up

530
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,840
getting picked up and she failed that same, same test and we were talking about it.

531
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,520
And I ended up seeing, I ended up getting picked up years later and seeing her on,

532
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,080
on a, on a board, on a, on a wall with a picture.

533
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:10,600
And I was like, wow, like I can't believe like that's, that's how this is.

534
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:11,800
So that was my transition.

535
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:17,320
I ended up working for health central paramedics for a couple, about a two and

536
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,280
a half years before I got picked up again, but before I went through the next

537
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:21,800
process and got finally picked up.

538
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:23,400
But yeah, that was my transition.

539
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:28,600
I went right from the army, right into health central, health central and

540
00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:29,480
the orange County.

541
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,680
So it was not, you know, I was still in the field.

542
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,280
So you mentioned losing some of your, your friends.

543
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:36,520
Yeah.

544
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:37,640
What's the other side of that?

545
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,800
So, yeah, I mean, transitioning out of the military, I, like I said, I intended

546
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,240
on going back if I didn't make it to orange County, I gave myself, I was

547
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,080
going to give myself two, two years.

548
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,640
It ended up being two and a half, but I was in the hiring process during that

549
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,200
time. I was going to go back into the army, but I mentioned earlier that I was

550
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:59,720
one of the fortunate few who ended up not going to war, but, you know, I lost

551
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,920
a couple of my roommates when they went to Iraq.

552
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:11,400
I believe we, I believe we, we started bombing in March of 2002 and my unit

553
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,120
that had gone to Kosovo, they had gotten back.

554
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,800
I think they had like a 30 day R and R.

555
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:23,480
And 30 day R and R and they had gotten orders to go drop into Iraq.

556
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:25,160
And that would have been me.

557
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,480
Had I not gone to flight medic school, that would have been me.

558
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:35,080
And one of my buddies had gotten hit by a mortar and he had died.

559
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:36,440
He was a really close friend of mine.

560
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,920
Another one of my buddy was a flight medic.

561
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,600
He was making a save and he made the first save.

562
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,120
He was, they, we had in the, in the black hawk, you had, you had a

563
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:47,880
I think it's called a jungle penetrator.

564
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,080
So it's like a little seat that you sit on with a boom that comes out of the

565
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,760
helicopter, and then you just kind of, you ride the cable down on the seat

566
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,200
and then you can pick someone up.

567
00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,360
So we used to train on that when I was in a helicopter, but, um, he had

568
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,040
ended up making a save and he had gone down.

569
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:08,360
There was two, there was two victims, two casualties, and he ended up, um,

570
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,640
going down, getting the first one, coming back up, putting them in the helicopter

571
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,640
went back to get the second one.

572
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,200
And then the aircraft started taking fire.

573
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:22,760
So in our safety crew, um, brief before we start our shift in the helicopter,

574
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,360
uh, the pilots would go through safety briefing and all this thing.

575
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:31,080
But one of the safety briefings was, um, if you're on the JP, if you're,

576
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,440
if you're riding it and we, if something were to happen, you know, something

577
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:39,240
with auto rotation or something with something with the helicopter, we're,

578
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,280
we got to land the helicopter at a murder and he was like, Oh, I'm

579
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,520
going to land the helicopter at emergency and you're a hundred feet dangling,

580
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:47,960
200 feet dangling.

581
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:53,720
It's faster to get to as close to the ground and lower you and then cut the

582
00:32:53,720 --> 00:33:01,000
cord versus taking a hard abort, you know, uh, move, uh, maneuver.

583
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,960
And then now you're, you're getting thrown into the blades.

584
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:08,280
So this is exactly what happened to Heath and, um, they'd taken a fire.

585
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:09,480
They ended up releasing them.

586
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,400
Uh, he ended up falling to his death.

587
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:12,920
So very, very unfortunate.

588
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,720
Two of my closest friends, Johnny and Heath, uh, two of my closest

589
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,560
friend when I was stationed in Germany.

590
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,280
And then, oh, another one of my roommates was Shane.

591
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:26,040
Um, he ended up losing his, losing his arm and, and, uh, an about in a gunfight

592
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:27,720
and, um, he was from Michigan.

593
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,600
I went back to Michigan, got discharged from the army.

594
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,760
Um, uh, Shane, Shane was a heavy gambler when we were together and he

595
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:35,960
was a heavy drinker.

596
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,200
Uh, he was constantly drunk on when we, when we got off at night on the

597
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,280
weekends, he would go get a case of Bud Light and he would, he would drink it

598
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,120
until he, he couldn't move.

599
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,480
Um, and you know, being a young kid, I mean, we were all young.

600
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,040
You could drink legally in Germany at 18.

601
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:57,400
Um, and he was a year older than I, so, um, you know, you could see that he had a

602
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,920
drinking problem and as a young man, I don't know those kinds of things.

603
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,600
You don't recognize, you expect your leaders to recognize, recognize those

604
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:05,240
things.

605
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,960
Unfortunately, there's a lot of leaders that don't pay attention.

606
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,160
They don't give a, give a shit.

607
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:13,480
So anyways, Shane ended up, um, losing his arm, going back home, and then he

608
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:14,520
ended up taking his life.

609
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:19,320
Um, I, I, I'd never spoke to Shane after, you know, after I left Germany.

610
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:24,200
Um, but I heard about him and I, and I, and I found out about him is because,

611
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:31,720
um, his wound was featured in a, a, um, um, a PowerPoint slide.

612
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:35,000
Um, and that's how I found out you could, I could see him.

613
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,760
I recognize him and I could see, you know, he was well, he was, he was

614
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,160
whatever, you know, he was missing his arm and amputee.

615
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,160
And, um, you know, uh, it was, it was a training video, you know, for the

616
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:45,560
military.

617
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:47,240
And so it was, it was, you know, reused.

618
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:51,160
And I remember seeing, seeing Shane and then, you know, doing some digging,

619
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:52,200
calling some old friends.

620
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:53,000
They're like, yeah.

621
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:54,920
Um, they released him.

622
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:56,120
He actually just took his life.

623
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,360
So, um, it's just one of those things.

624
00:34:58,840 --> 00:34:59,240
Yeah.

625
00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:03,480
It's, it's so sad because I mean that now through eight years of all these

626
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,280
conversations with, you know, people that have been through those struggles

627
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,200
and the mental health professionals and all the, all the conversations I've had,

628
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:15,560
there's been a massive realization that we bring stuff into the uniform.

629
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,400
And if you're not addressing that as well, because that can be an absolute

630
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:23,880
strength, it becomes resilience, but you get people that find themselves in

631
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:24,360
uniform.

632
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,640
A lot of times we've had checkered pasts, you know, and that doesn't have to be a

633
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,120
bad thing, but we've got stuff that we're supposed to deal with.

634
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,040
And then you put us into seeing the horrible shit we see on the streets here

635
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,240
or fighting overseas, you know, now it's compounding it.

636
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:40,120
Now you send that person back, they get hurt, you know, obviously with him,

637
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:43,000
I'm assuming that was the end of his military career, you know, so he gets

638
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:43,480
treated.

639
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:44,760
Yeah, he's gone.

640
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:46,120
You've lost tribe, you've lost everything.

641
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,320
So everything that was kind of healing for him, probably, because I'm assuming

642
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,160
he wasn't drunk when he was on op.

643
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,520
So he was able to probably now if he was deployed, they, you know, have limited

644
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:55,560
access to any of that stuff.

645
00:35:55,560 --> 00:36:00,040
So he was, you know, he was filling those voids with, with war, with excitement

646
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,160
and brotherhood and, and then all of we spit them out the other end.

647
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,680
And it's like, all right, good luck, you know, and obviously we have the VA, but

648
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,520
I mean, I've heard the same exact conversation over and over again, as they

649
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:11,640
just throw pills at them.

650
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,360
So, you know, again, we talk about broken systems.

651
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,520
A lot of that comes from a good place.

652
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:19,160
They want to fix it, but we're not looking at the whole picture.

653
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,800
And if you've got a young Marine soldier firefighter who's struggling at 18, 19

654
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:28,520
years old, and you're not talking about early life, then you're missing the

655
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:29,560
massive piece of the puzzle.

656
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:31,480
You go, oh, well, you were at war and he lost your arm.

657
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:32,360
That's why you're struggling.

658
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,040
No, his dad was an alcoholic or his uncle touched him or whatever.

659
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:36,280
Sure.

660
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,800
That's probably going to be part of the early life that if it's not addressed,

661
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:44,040
that's why we lose so many of these young soldiers and firefighters and cops.

662
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:52,680
In, I talk about it in my book, chapter three, it's called plagues.

663
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:58,520
And I really dive into like the pandemic during the plague, but in that chapter,

664
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:03,800
I also talk about some of the last moments in Orange County for me.

665
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,560
I was one of the dive adjuncts started the dive team.

666
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:14,520
And when I was there and I ended up, I didn't make it to what it is today there.

667
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,440
I could give credit to Brandon for that.

668
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,680
Brandon has done an amazing job, but I was the one that had started the program.

669
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:28,440
And I ended up, I ended up having conversations because at that time,

670
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:34,360
2020, 2021, we were, I guess it was going into 2021.

671
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:38,440
We were, we were doing training and we had lost firemen.

672
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:48,600
And in a, I've been out of, from Orange County for since October of 2021.

673
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:55,640
And it was December, November, December of 2020.

674
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,800
So we're coming up on four years.

675
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:02,120
In that four year period, Orange County, I counted it out the other day.

676
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:08,200
They've lost seven Orange County firefighters to suicide.

677
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,480
And I talk about four of them in my book.

678
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,240
Three have just recently taken their life.

679
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:19,160
And after my, after my book has come out, not after my book has come out,

680
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:25,800
but after, after I wrote it all, but three more had, have, have taken their life.

681
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,800
Now, a lot of people look at me and say, oh, well, these guys weren't active duty.

682
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,080
You know, some of them are retired.

683
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:34,920
Yes. There was a couple of retirees that I add into that statistic.

684
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:40,280
And, but you, I, I don't want to get away from that because as you just kind of

685
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:42,760
mentioned, you know, it may take a career.

686
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,400
Okay. You and I have been, I've been in the fire service for over 20 or I've been in

687
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,160
public safety doing what I've done in public safety for over 22 years.

688
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,440
I know you've got a pretty long history in the fire service.

689
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:58,120
Yeah. 14 actually in uniform at 20. Cause another six doing this.

690
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,840
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I consider it still in the fire.

691
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:09,640
So yeah, I agree. Um, so I look at the ones that are retired, they saw 25, 30 years of

692
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:16,440
terror. They saw things that people can't even imagine that you would see in a horror film.

693
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,200
Um, things that have happened to children, things that have happened to the elderly.

694
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,840
And it's not just, it's not just horrific events, just like very sad.

695
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:29,080
And so you go through this emotional roller coaster as a first responder and see in the

696
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:34,600
military, if you go to war, you happen, this all happens quickly. You see four or five of your guys

697
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:40,440
taken out in one, one explosion. Okay. If you watch the, the it's a great HBO series, but you

698
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,040
watch the band of brothers. Oh, I love it. And one of my favorite, I've watched it like three,

699
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:49,160
four times. Um, but you look at that and those guys are losing their friends, their brothers,

700
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:54,520
right? Like real quick, the replacements are coming in, you know? And I will tell you that it's,

701
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:59,560
it's, it's difficult for military guys, but if you talk about first responders, we just had a first

702
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:05,560
responder, a Lake County, um, sheriff, uh, had his life taken the other day, you know, he went to go

703
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:11,240
help somebody and then his life gets taken. Okay. And so now his two partners that were with them,

704
00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:16,200
that took, took, took fire as well, have to live with that. Okay. How long are they going to be

705
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:21,800
able to live with that? And we don't talk about this stuff. And, you know, so, uh, some of the

706
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,240
last moments that I had in orange County, these are some of the things that I was addressing.

707
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:28,920
I was addressing the only thing that I could address was when I did my station rounds,

708
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:33,880
I would talk to my crews about it. And, and then when, if I wanted to talk to people outside,

709
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,960
we were a big department. The other people I would talk to you was on the dive program.

710
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:43,640
I have five or six, uh, firefighters that were divers that we were doing training. I would take

711
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:48,840
10 minutes and I'd say, Hey, let's chat about this. I'm always here. Everybody has my number.

712
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:53,240
Let's chat about this. And the one thing I didn't want to happen, we had just lost four firefighters.

713
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:58,760
Two were rookies, two were retirees. Okay. And at the same time, we lost one of my closest friend,

714
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:06,040
Eric Sienna, uh, to brain cancer. I interviewed Eric weeks before he passed away. And I remember

715
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,760
seeing him, uh, weeks before he passed away and I just didn't recognize him. Eric used to come into

716
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:16,520
my, my bunk room as when I was a chief and he would pick the lock cause I'd lock it, pick the lock.

717
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:21,640
And he would sit, I had a little recliner sit next to my bunk, my bed, and he would sit down,

718
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:32,760
recline in it and just sit there with his white mocha, uh, like, Hey, uh, lazy, you getting up?

719
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,840
You know, and he would, he would bust my balls for stuff like that. But, um, yeah,

720
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:42,360
seeing him the last couple of weeks, it was, it was bad. And, uh, I, I, I had the honor of carrying

721
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:48,600
his, uh, carrying him and his helmet, um, to the, to the truck, um, and then leading, leading the

722
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:54,360
procession down to the, uh, the church, uh, from his house. So that was, that was a true, a true honor.

723
00:41:54,920 --> 00:42:00,520
I was there the night that he had a seizure, um, at the station, at the station. I was, I, I,

724
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:05,560
even as the, the head of the battalion, I never, I never, it's my rule. I don't set up the head

725
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:10,200
of the table. I just don't, I don't do it. That's my rule. And, um, so Eric was sitting at the head

726
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:14,520
of table. He was sitting to the right of me and I remember him, we were making jokes or whatever,

727
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,560
and it looked like he was, it looked like he was, uh, uh, making a funny noise, but he was actually

728
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:24,760
seizing. And then he started choking on his, uh, uh, the, the meat had, he had just taken a bite of

729
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:31,560
the chicken. And so, um, um, grabbed him, recognized it, right? Grabbed him, put him down on the ground,

730
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:36,040
opened up a shirt, put my hand in his mouth, grabbed the chicken out of his mouth, you know,

731
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:41,640
and then the crew just amazing, amazing job worked them. And then we got them to the hospital,

732
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:46,760
but all this had happened within a short, a short period of time, less than a five month period.

733
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:53,960
And we've lost five, five people and, uh, five firefighters. And then you look back and another

734
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:58,040
guy takes his life. Another guy takes his life. And then just recently another guy takes his life

735
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:04,120
by a drug overdose. Um, it's, it's now he wasn't an orange County fireman anymore, but you have to,

736
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:09,960
you have to say where, where did all this come from and where was the leadership helping him?

737
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:14,760
So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's like, and it's funny cause I've, I've interviewed World War

738
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:18,920
two veterans. I just interviewed a couple in Dallas last year in December, I think it was,

739
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:26,120
and I talked to them about it. We, you know, no one would ever dare to say,

740
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,920
Oh, why doesn't that vet World War two veterans just suck it up? You know, that was only three,

741
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:36,280
four, five years of service. And I say only that the tempo of some of these guys, they saw some

742
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:41,800
stuff, but you know, and it was interesting cause I had one, um, on the show who was, uh, one of the

743
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:47,400
original Marine Raiders on Iwo Jima and he was wounded on Iwo Jima and he wrote a book on PTSD.

744
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:52,520
I mean, you talk about an amazing human being to have that much vulnerability in his late nineties

745
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:58,280
to talk about PTSD, but we call them the greatest generation. And you actually now, again, through

746
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:02,360
storytelling through this, you hear how grand that actually was from most of the people about our

747
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:08,360
age and, Oh, he didn't come home and just roll his sleeves up. He drank and he beat his wife. And,

748
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:13,160
and you know, again, it's not a criticism. It's just the reality. We paint them as they just got

749
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:17,560
back to work and made America great. And that was it. No, no, they had to deal with trauma.

750
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:21,320
And if they didn't drill with trauma, it's the same as a firefighter. Now it eats away at them

751
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:26,120
it eats away at them and it becomes alcoholism and domestic violence and infidelity or whatever

752
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:31,320
the thing is. So to, to just say, Oh, well, they don't work for us anymore. Shrug their shoulders.

753
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:36,200
They work for you for 10, 15, 20 years and you're just going to be, Oh, well,

754
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:40,920
you know, they were retired. Like, no, that's bullshit. And it's not just what they did.

755
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:46,680
It's their entire life from, you know, in vitro all the way through to today. But if you're saying

756
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:52,200
that 20 years in Orange County didn't play a part of it, then shame on you. Even five years. I mean,

757
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:56,600
you know, if you work where we've worked, you know, I work California, I work here and everywhere.

758
00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:02,520
We're Hialeah, you know, the OBT area in Orange County, you know, Anaheim's downtown was gangland.

759
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:07,240
So, I mean, you see horrible shit over and over and over again. And then you just kind of pop

760
00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:11,880
someone out the back door and close down the bay doors and then good luck. Here's Cobra for a year.

761
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:16,920
Go fuck yourself. So tooth. Yeah. And now that's the truth. So two, yeah, two things though on that,

762
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:24,600
you know, it's, it's, you have, you have people that don't realize there are so many demons

763
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,800
that, that can attack you when you start going through this. And you had mentioned several of

764
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:36,680
them right there and what it takes, you know, to become this evil person where now all you're doing

765
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:44,920
is contemplating suicide. I don't know if you've, I don't know if you've heard the recent music,

766
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:51,720
the recent song by Papa Roach and Carrie Underwood. Yes. Amazing song. I've been playing

767
00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:59,000
it nonstop since it came out. I love it. It truly hits home, you know, not, not home for me, like,

768
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:04,680
you know, cause I've gone through those, those, those, those demons. I, I personally have not,

769
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:10,200
but I mean, it really hits home in the fact that, you know, you want to leave the light on for

770
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:18,600
somebody else. You want to be that, that, Hey, I'm here for you. And, um, I know people who have

771
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:23,000
gone through these things and I have reached out and I've been that and I've, and, and just telling

772
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,720
you the story about, you know, some of the stuff I talked about with a dive team and with my stations,

773
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:32,120
those opportunities, that's where it hits home for me. And you look back and you look back at just

774
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:44,840
like Papa Roach's, um, his, um, uh, Jacoby's first Infest, um, album and, and he talks about,

775
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:53,240
and that, and that album, uh, suicide and where he's contemplating suicide and you know, people,

776
00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:59,240
it's, it's, it's someone that's screaming out for like help, help, help, help. And so I love this,

777
00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:03,880
I love this new, um, rendition of the, of his song with Carrie Underwood. It's an amazing,

778
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:08,840
amazing, if people are listening and haven't heard it, uh, leave the light on, uh, with Papa

779
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,360
Roach and Carrie Underwood, it's an amazing, he's got an amazing voice. We all know Carrie has an

780
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:19,720
amazing voice, but, um, just, just a true Testament of, of what a person can do if they just take the

781
00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:26,680
time to listen to somebody and to like recognize some of these, these key traits of, of someone

782
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:32,360
wanting to take their life. It's really sad, but you know, people will work day in and day out.

783
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:39,400
And I was kind of going at it a little earlier, but there is why, why do people stay so long in

784
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:43,800
the fire service? You know, we taught, we said, how many times that we sat at the dinner table and

785
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:51,160
said, Oh, 25 years and I'm out 25 years and I'm out 30 years. I know guys that are 25 years and

786
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:56,760
they're like, I just got to do five more years and I can pay off my truck. I'm going to go on the drop

787
00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:02,600
at 30 and I can do another five. Oh wait, no, they just bumped it up to eight years. Why are,

788
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:08,520
why are we chasing this carrot for 30 years only to be 60, 65 years old? And then now you can't do

789
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:15,720
nothing anymore. You're you've, you've ate like crap for 25, 30 years, you know, and a lot of

790
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:20,200
times they, it's because we don't know anything else. We don't believe that we can do anything

791
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:25,800
else. We don't believe that we are more than just a fireman. We are more than just, that's all we

792
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:31,960
know. And things that I talk about on, on my show is like, we are more than that. You know, I'm, I

793
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:37,000
wasn't, I, my passion for my entire life was to be a fireman. That's all I ever wanted to do. That's

794
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:42,120
all I ever wanted to be at orange County took it from me. They stole my passion, the career that I

795
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:48,280
chose. I was, I was next in line to be assistant chief. I was next in line to be the fire chief.

796
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:54,760
Okay. And, and they've, and these, these government entities have taken it from me and I've realized

797
00:48:54,760 --> 00:49:01,400
today, and that's, that's what I talk about a lot now and in my personal journey with some of the

798
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:07,480
businesses that I do. And then in my podcast is I want people to know that they're more valuable

799
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:12,040
with what people are telling them. And I think if we really start talking to people like that, that

800
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:18,040
you're more valuable, you're more than just fill in the blank, you're more than just a teacher of

801
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:23,880
a fireman, a police officer, a doctor, you know, you don't have to work 25 years doing this one

802
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:28,200
thing and thinking, this is all you're good at. Okay. There's so many talents and so many things.

803
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:33,240
There's so much, there's so much opportunity, especially in this country opportunity around

804
00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:39,800
the world. I mean, I see once I stepped out of the fire service, uh, there's, there's, I've talked

805
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:44,520
about it on a show with a close friend of mine, but there's the red car theory for the red car,

806
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:50,520
red card, red car theory. Um, it sounds familiar, but I certainly don't remember the specifics.

807
00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:55,880
So red car theory is like, we're driving down the road and you're just driving. All right. You don't

808
00:49:55,880 --> 00:50:01,000
pay no attention. And I said, Hey, James, have you seen a red car in the last 15 minutes? You're

809
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:06,600
like, no, I haven't. But as soon as I said that now, red car, red car, red car, red car, red car,

810
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:12,280
right. I've opened up that, that, that door for you to notice the red car. Well, then in 10 minutes,

811
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:17,880
I say, Hey, have you noticed a green car? And you're like, nah, shit. Now we look for green

812
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:21,640
cars now. So now you're seeing red and green, red and green, red and green. Okay. So what that

813
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:27,640
represents is opportunity. So once I left the fire service, the only thing that I knew was let's,

814
00:50:27,640 --> 00:50:32,040
let's get at the dinner table. Let's talk about the cool call, the cool fire, the cool pen job.

815
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:36,040
All right. Let's complain about the management because they suck. All right. Let's complain

816
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:40,200
about the union because they really suck. All right. Uh, they're not doing anything. They're not,

817
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:44,280
they're claiming 25% this year. They're just feeding us a bunch of bullshit. Okay. Uh,

818
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:48,520
we're going to get 3% right. Working against fitness standards and short. Yeah, they're,

819
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:52,520
they're lowering the bar, going against fitness standards, all kinds of different things.

820
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:57,000
So, I mean, so I look at it and I, and, and, and now I tell people, I'm like, look, we,

821
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:01,000
you have to sit at a different table. One of my most recent episodes sitting at a different table.

822
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:05,240
I don't sit at the same table with people that are used to, I don't talk about football and the

823
00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:09,640
cool pen job and the fire and the cool fire. I just ran. I don't talk about that anymore. I talk

824
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:14,840
about business, finance, education, reading different books, getting educated. Uh, how can

825
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:20,200
I better myself to better other people fitness? Okay. Uh, I had this conversation with my brother

826
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:26,520
last night is like, take some personal, uh, self dis, have some self-discipline, take some personal,

827
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:31,960
um, uh, what am I trying to say? Uh, be accountability. Great. You know, if, if you're

828
00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:36,280
a fat ass, okay. He, I kept saying that to him last night. I said, stop being a fat ass. And that,

829
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:41,160
and if that offends you, if you're listening to this and that offends you, then maybe that's a

830
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:46,280
good thing. You know, I want you to be offended because I don't want you to be a fat ass. I want

831
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:51,480
you to be healthy. I want you to live a good solid life. Okay. And if me telling you that triggers

832
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:57,560
you, then go get in the gym, work out two, three times a week, start it off slow, you know, drink

833
00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:03,960
water, stop eating crap, you know? Um, and there's other things. It's hard to do that here, but I

834
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:08,280
want people to, to talk about different things and better themselves. And those are some of the

835
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:14,840
things that I'm looking at today. Do you know who Bedros Kulian is? No, he is, uh, I think he's

836
00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:20,200
Armenian. It's been a while since we talked, but he was a, an immigrant again, massive childhood

837
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:25,240
trauma, you know, very poor immigration story. And now he, you know, if you look at any of those kind

838
00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:30,520
of empower entrepreneur, you know, programs and conferences, Bedros is there a lot, but I've

839
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:35,560
actually got to interview him through, uh, credit to Julian Serrano for connecting us. He's a firefighter

840
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:40,440
that went through his program and kind of had him as a mentor, but, uh, it was a great conversation

841
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:43,800
because he's worked with cops and firefighters. And he's like, the problem with you guys is you

842
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:48,760
just think you can only do copying and firefighting. That's a fact. It's like you're problem solvers

843
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:53,080
and you're well in teams and you work well under stress and you know, you have this diverse set

844
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:58,200
of skills and he's absolutely right. You know, and this is the problem is, and it's the same with the

845
00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:02,200
military, you know, you come out and you're like, Oh, I was just, I was a gunner and I was an

846
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:07,800
infringement. Yeah. And it's not, you know, but you can apply that to so many areas. And if,

847
00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:16,120
if, if you find yourself not wanting to be governed by a pension schemes timeline of your life,

848
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:23,720
then maybe just maybe you can say, I had a fucking amazing time as a firefighter for 14 years or

849
00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:28,920
whatever it was. And I didn't choose to leave the universe spat me out there. The virtual butthole

850
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:34,040
of I would have never left. I think, I think if I didn't get kicked out twice, um, then I would have

851
00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:38,520
never left. Like it, I think that's when it was like, all right, you're not getting a, God was

852
00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:43,560
telling me like, you're not getting what I'm telling you. Like this you're done. Yeah. I had

853
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:48,520
the same different story, but same, same. It was like, we need you to be loud and luscious outside

854
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:53,560
the wall. And honestly, that's what we do today. Yeah. You know, like we have, we have the ability

855
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:58,600
to communicate now and talk to, uh, your, your platform is way bigger than mine, but just like,

856
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:02,200
you know, talk to thousands of people, you know, you're maybe hundreds of thousands. I don't know

857
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:08,360
what your numbers, but like, uh, I get to reach a bigger audience now. And, um, I, I enjoy that

858
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:14,440
because I want to, for people to think that they're more, I had a conversation with a good friend

859
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:20,440
of mine, orange County. He's a Lieutenant recently. And he was like, Steve, he's like, I don't know

860
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:24,280
what, cause I was telling him he's more than just a fireman. And he's like, Steve, I don't know what

861
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:28,920
you're talking about, man. He's like, I'm, he's like, I don't have a, a degree like you. I don't

862
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:33,080
have a master's degree or anything like that. I was like, I'm not going to say his name, but I was

863
00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:41,160
like, dude, do you think that that's made me any money today? I have a degree. It doesn't do me

864
00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:45,080
crap. It just looks good on a resume. That's it. I mean, I use it to my advantage to be like, well,

865
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:50,600
I got a degree. You know, I, I play that the, the society role of the game, cause that's what society

866
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:55,880
thinks is smart people have. But, um, but I tell him, I said, look, he's like, I don't know what I

867
00:54:55,880 --> 00:55:00,120
would do. And I said, okay, have you, you've, you've had a lawn business, right? And he's like, yeah, I,

868
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:04,360
I used to have a, a lawn business. And I said, I said, all right, dude, let's, let's talk about

869
00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:09,880
this for a second. I said, right now you're a Lieutenant, your daily operation. Okay. And I know

870
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:15,480
it because it used to be one is you check for making sure staffing is correct. All right. So

871
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:21,160
you manage staffing. All right. You also manage your pay, the payroll. Okay. You account for every

872
00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:26,520
bit of action they do. You act, you account for all their training. So you implement training. So you

873
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:32,600
do some level of training throughout the month. Okay. Then you have to fill out reports. All right.

874
00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:40,600
You also command fire scenes, whether it's on a, on an auto entrapment or a house fire until the

875
00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:48,280
next rank gets there, you manage that emergency at, at the very hardest time in the emergency.

876
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:53,800
The most difficult time is the first responding unit. That first officer in is the most difficult

877
00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:59,000
because there's so much chaos and you're trying to organize and put all the kittens back in the box.

878
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:05,960
And I said, now let's apply that to lawn business. Okay. You have seven guys at your house right now,

879
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:10,440
each one of them, you give them a truck. Okay. You take out a small business loan, you get a truck

880
00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:16,520
for every single one with a trailer. You buy a, you buy a separate, a separate mower for each trailer

881
00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:21,320
and a, and a, and a weed eater and a blower and whatever else you need on that trailer. And you say,

882
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:27,240
go. Okay. Now you've got seven guys working for you. You're managing their payroll. You're managing

883
00:56:27,240 --> 00:56:30,760
their schedule. You're managing their training. If they don't know, cause there's lots of firemen

884
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:35,080
that don't know how to run a mower. All right. We know that. Okay. You're managing their training.

885
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:42,520
So right now you have already been given the life skills to manage your own business, but you think

886
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:48,040
the only thing you know how to do is be a lieutenant or a fireman. And because that's all you know,

887
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:52,680
and you don't know how to go get the finances because it wasn't taught to you in school.

888
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:58,360
My master's, my bachelor's, my two associate's degrees. It didn't teach me shit about financing.

889
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:02,600
It didn't teach me shit about taxes. It didn't teach me anything about running the businesses

890
00:57:02,600 --> 00:57:09,000
that I run today. Okay. It took me getting out of the fire department to go, all right, I got to

891
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:13,800
figure this out. And now I figured it out. Okay. And now I want others to help, to help others

892
00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:18,600
figure it out. So that's what I do today is help people figure these things out because what did

893
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:24,120
you just say? We're problem solvers and that's a huge problem. Okay. In an industry that you and I

894
00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:29,480
grew up loving. An industry where in our problems, people possibly were going to die.

895
00:57:30,600 --> 00:57:35,400
Almost no other industry. So if you can manage that. There's a life or death situation every time I get

896
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:40,600
in a truck. Exactly. You can definitely manage, you know, the plastering business or cabin cabinetry,

897
00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:44,440
or whatever it is that you're going to oversee or, you know, as an entrepreneur or, you know,

898
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:48,920
managing a team, whatever it is, but we just downplay and it's that imposter syndrome, you know,

899
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:53,240
oh, I could never. So you already have, you already have, and this is the thing, even with

900
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:58,440
going back to the work week, someone, a friend of mine who works in the Northeast said it beautifully.

901
00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:06,600
He's like, if you work a 56 hour work week, your department is telling you that you are worth 33.3%

902
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:10,440
less than the guys that work a 42 hour week in the Northeast.

903
00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:18,280
In fact, boom, same job, same emergency job, you know, same rigs, but they're telling you

904
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:23,080
that you're a third less valuable. That's why we're, you know, we want you to work 56 hours

905
00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:29,720
for the same salary. Sure. So, you know, again, taking a step out of your own value. I love the

906
00:58:29,720 --> 00:58:33,560
fire service. I mean, if I never left California, I'd still be in Anaheim now, probably still a

907
00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:39,800
Tillaman fireman, to be honest, but a fire medic. But I saw, I saw, I saw a tiller truck the other

908
00:58:39,800 --> 00:58:45,320
day and I was like, ah, you know, I mean, it's still a boyhood dream. You know, I never, I never

909
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:51,400
intend to go back, but, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a chapter in my life. And that book has

910
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:56,040
been closed. I'm on to bigger and better things. I have a, I have a different purpose, a different

911
00:58:56,040 --> 00:59:02,040
mission in life. But I mean, it's still, you're look at it like, ah, it was amazing. Yeah.

912
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:09,240
All right. Well, let's get back to that. So I want to get back to it. So the, the pandemic hits,

913
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:16,520
give us an overview of, you know, the, the, um, the commands that came down the pipe,

914
00:59:16,520 --> 00:59:21,160
sure. Who you were defending, how that cost you your job. And then we'll pick up and talk about

915
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:26,840
how in 2024 responders are still losing their jobs to this and what we can do about it.

916
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:33,400
So, you know, the pandemic came out in March of 2020, and I've talked about this a lot and on many,

917
00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:40,280
many shows, um, uh, national, international shows. And I will tell you that that whole,

918
00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:46,520
that whole year, 2020, we, it was, it was prep and I was seeing guys ask me a lot of questions and

919
00:59:46,520 --> 00:59:51,320
I have no answers as a leader. I had no answers. And I, and what I do is I find the answer and if

920
00:59:51,320 --> 00:59:55,560
I can't find the answer, then I push harder and I push harder and I push harder till I get the

921
00:59:55,560 --> 00:59:59,960
answer. Because at the end of the day, my responsibility is, is the people that I lead,

922
00:59:59,960 --> 01:00:05,640
but also to the, to the brand. Okay. I am, I am, I am trying to protect the brand as well always.

923
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:10,440
And so 2020 taught me that, okay, there's not a whole lot of information that we're going to get.

924
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:17,080
All right. 2021 rolls around the mandates roll in now I'm against, I'm against the vaccination

925
01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:24,120
100%. I think if you got it, um, I, I, I hope everything works out for you. Um, I'm completely

926
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:31,080
going to understand your situation. Um, but I, I hope that I'm wrong. I really do. I, I pray that

927
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:36,360
I'm wrong because I think it's a poison and unfortunately there are so many people, my family,

928
01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:42,440
my father, uh, his wife, my brother, my sister, they all got it. My sister-in-law, my brother-in-law,

929
01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:48,520
they've all gotten it. Um, my in-laws have all gotten it and I would hate to be right. I don't

930
01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:55,320
want to be right, but I knew at the time and I wasn't against the vaccination at the time. Um,

931
01:00:56,040 --> 01:01:03,080
at the time I just didn't want it for myself. I was on a fitness journey. I was on, um, um, a, a,

932
01:01:03,080 --> 01:01:11,560
a question like why, why are we saying go get this? Like it doesn't make sense. I just want to know

933
01:01:11,560 --> 01:01:18,840
a little bit more on what's going on. Okay. I want to know a little bit more on what is,

934
01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:23,240
what's the data going to show? Okay. No one knew.

935
01:01:23,960 --> 01:01:28,200
Well, the data kept changing and that's, that's, that's another thing too. There was a point where

936
01:01:28,200 --> 01:01:33,640
we were told it was a hundred percent effective and anyone who's worked in medicine knows damn

937
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:37,720
well that nothing is a hundred percent effective, especially something which they kept saying is a

938
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:42,920
version of a flu shot, which we all know is like, well, it might get the strain that's coming

939
01:01:42,920 --> 01:01:47,880
through. So we all know that the flu shots are nowhere near a hundred percent effective. So this

940
01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:55,240
is what was so maddening is they had everyone out there in Tyvek suits with no masks and no one had

941
01:01:55,240 --> 01:02:01,880
a fucking problem then. And then you're turning around saying, yeah, you're murderers and you know,

942
01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:05,800
we need to hold you accountable. Actually speaking of which here's a good segue. Talk to me about

943
01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:13,400
what Nicole Wilson said regarding that factor. So, you know, during that, I can't, my dates are,

944
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:16,200
you know, without it sitting in front of me, you know, the dates are going to be a little bit

945
01:02:16,200 --> 01:02:21,880
blurry, but there was a moment when the mayor in orange County had mandated the vaccination and

946
01:02:21,880 --> 01:02:28,680
mandate get it or get terminated was the original order. And you had to October one. Well, during

947
01:02:28,680 --> 01:02:34,200
that time, there was a large group of firefighters in orange County that pushed back. And I believe

948
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:39,720
this today. And unfortunately, where firemen are complacent and they forget what happens. And that

949
01:02:39,720 --> 01:02:45,640
whole saying in nine 11, never forget. I can tell you too many people have forgotten and too many

950
01:02:45,640 --> 01:02:51,640
people have forgotten about 2021. Okay. Too many people have forgotten about 2001, 20 years later.

951
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:57,880
Look at that. Well, look at the lack of support for all the cancer victims. I use that word and

952
01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:02,920
their families, you know, fighting just to get 50 grand to support them. Eric Christie was one of

953
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:10,520
those for Eric. And I can tell, I can tell you that during that time, about four or 500 of us in

954
01:03:10,520 --> 01:03:15,960
orange County had come out with pushing back. Like we were not going to do this. Some that were getting

955
01:03:15,960 --> 01:03:22,280
vaccinated, some that were not some that, that agreed with our stance of the mandates, not right.

956
01:03:23,160 --> 01:03:28,760
And then there was 70 of us that filed a lawsuit against orange County to say, look, this is an

957
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:34,840
illegal, this is an illegal mandate. And so when all this was going on, you know, I'm getting

958
01:03:34,840 --> 01:03:40,440
publicized as a political pawn. Okay. Because the governor had brought me, brought me in under his,

959
01:03:40,440 --> 01:03:48,280
his, uh, his wing to kind of push legislation in November. But, um, during that time, Nicole Wilson,

960
01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:57,080
she is, she is currently the current orange County district one commissioner, and she is an attorney

961
01:03:57,080 --> 01:04:03,320
that that is her, that is her profession. That is what she went to school for. Okay. But she looks

962
01:04:03,320 --> 01:04:12,200
over at the County attorney and her comment is so, it's so blatantly disrespectful. And she looks

963
01:04:12,200 --> 01:04:19,880
at the County attorney and she says, so if these firefighters who are unvaccinated go into someone's

964
01:04:19,880 --> 01:04:29,320
home and they get sick from COVID and die, can we hold them liable and responsible for that death

965
01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:34,840
for a wrongful death? And so the County attorney looks at her and says, well, you know, they're,

966
01:04:34,840 --> 01:04:40,760
they're kind of protected by sovereign immunity and being a government, a government official,

967
01:04:40,760 --> 01:04:47,000
a, an elected official, a commissioner in a large, one of the largest, uh, counties in the state of

968
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:54,440
Florida. And she has the audacity, the, uh, just that blatant disrespect to say that kind of shit.

969
01:04:55,080 --> 01:04:59,400
She's an attorney and she doesn't know this, that there is sovereign immunity for first responders,

970
01:05:00,040 --> 01:05:04,200
but that's not the big thing that, that really caught everybody's attention. And I hope these

971
01:05:04,200 --> 01:05:09,560
firefighters that listen to this, this is how these government elected officials act is she's

972
01:05:09,560 --> 01:05:14,280
caught on camera. This is a public forum. She's caught on camera and she's snapping her fingers

973
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:19,400
with a face like darn. Now I've got it all over my YouTube pages. I've seen it. So I've got it.

974
01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:24,440
I testify too. Yeah. I've got, I've, I've, I've posted it all on my YouTube pages. Um,

975
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:30,280
and then she just recently came out, uh, within the last month saying that she supports our

976
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:37,960
firefighters and our union, our local 20 57. God, I don't know who's running that show over there,

977
01:05:37,960 --> 01:05:45,560
but how on earth do you back a person who wanted to, uh, hold firefighters guilty? And this is the,

978
01:05:46,120 --> 01:05:51,720
the funny thing is the irony to this is the union is actually fighting against the county right now

979
01:05:51,720 --> 01:05:55,960
against those mandates. They're fighting, they're fighting at saying that they should have never

980
01:05:55,960 --> 01:06:01,400
done it, right? That they should have never forced this, uh, this mandate on us. And yet they've,

981
01:06:02,200 --> 01:06:07,000
this individual voted for that mandate and this individual one to hold those individuals,

982
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:13,560
those firemen responsible. And now you have leadership in the union who is advocating for,

983
01:06:13,560 --> 01:06:18,600
Hey, we want to, we want you as our next commissioner. It just, it's just absurd to me.

984
01:06:18,600 --> 01:06:23,240
And I know it wasn't a vote in the union. It wasn't a membership. It's got, it's, it's got three or

985
01:06:23,240 --> 01:06:27,880
four people that got their hand in the cookie jar and they've been eating from this cookie jar for

986
01:06:27,880 --> 01:06:32,920
years and they continue to do it. They're, they're in bed with all of them and it's unfortunate,

987
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:36,920
but this is what's going on. Well, just to underline, cause I did a little digging cause I,

988
01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:39,720
people have told me this, but I'm not right. Let me make sure I got my facts straight.

989
01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:47,480
As it came out the other end, it seems like it was the accepted number was the vaccine was 50%

990
01:06:48,920 --> 01:06:54,440
efficacy, which is the same as a placebo. Basically, you know, it's heads or tails.

991
01:06:54,440 --> 01:07:00,440
Is it going to work? Is it not going to work? So what they were doing was calling the previously

992
01:07:00,440 --> 01:07:05,640
unprotected first responders that held the line when everyone hit in their house murderers,

993
01:07:05,640 --> 01:07:10,680
when they refused to get the vaccine that ultimately costs lots of jobs. And I had John

994
01:07:10,680 --> 01:07:18,520
Knox from LAFD on episode eight 70, he just lost his job in November, 2023. I had a Greg

995
01:07:18,520 --> 01:07:23,880
Yacoubian on just the other day, episode nine 60, who's a former LAPD turned attorney who defends

996
01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:30,120
these people that are still being terminated to this day for these vaccine mandates over a

997
01:07:30,120 --> 01:07:36,920
vaccine that had an efficacy of 50, 55%. So this is what's disgusting. If they'd come out of it and

998
01:07:36,920 --> 01:07:41,640
said it was a hundred percent effective, it was basically polio vaccine. And if you got it,

999
01:07:41,640 --> 01:07:46,520
you could eradicate a disease. Then you'd be like, okay, you know, we're starting to see it now,

1000
01:07:46,520 --> 01:07:49,960
especially again, the other side of the argument is obviously how long have you been studying this?

1001
01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:56,200
Is it going to be dangerous to us? But when it ends up being such low efficacy, and I had,

1002
01:07:56,200 --> 01:08:00,440
I've got friends of mine, ICU doctors that have been on and you know, firefighters that have seen

1003
01:08:00,440 --> 01:08:05,960
the devastation in those hotspots from, from COVID. And they said, yeah, the vaccinated people seem

1004
01:08:05,960 --> 01:08:12,520
to survive. So it seemed to at least reduce the symptoms, but that's completely different than

1005
01:08:13,240 --> 01:08:17,240
you didn't take that vaccine. Therefore you're a murderer and I'm going to take you a job.

1006
01:08:17,240 --> 01:08:23,720
So this is what's disgusting in 2024 is they're still chasing responders jobs and then ruining

1007
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:29,560
lives and careers over a vaccine that ultimately didn't have that, didn't have that efficacy.

1008
01:08:29,560 --> 01:08:34,520
And as we hear now, the masks, the distances, Oh, you know what? I kind of made it up. No

1009
01:08:34,520 --> 01:08:41,240
fucking shit because you and I, every year, and above the rainbow, there's a pot of gold.

1010
01:08:41,240 --> 01:08:45,160
And you know what I mean? And you're doing your bowing and you're like, and you're telling me

1011
01:08:45,160 --> 01:08:51,160
that your grandmother's knitted mask was, was okay. So for fuck's sake, of course we knew this

1012
01:08:51,160 --> 01:08:57,080
every other bit. And everyone, no matter who they are said, when it first came out, we were worried.

1013
01:08:57,080 --> 01:09:01,880
Everyone was worried by the time you got to three or four weeks in and that, you know,

1014
01:09:01,880 --> 01:09:05,240
all the data started coming in as far as just, you know, what were we actually seeing?

1015
01:09:05,880 --> 01:09:10,440
Yeah. The doom and gloom numbers were a lot less. Every single life loss was tragic,

1016
01:09:10,440 --> 01:09:16,200
but it wasn't to the magnitude. And what we did to our children when actually they were pretty much

1017
01:09:16,200 --> 01:09:21,160
safe from COVID-19, you know, what we did to the workforce when they were healthy, we should have

1018
01:09:21,160 --> 01:09:26,680
protected the vulnerable and kept us with all the support to be out there keeping the world running,

1019
01:09:26,680 --> 01:09:31,080
you know? So this is what's so disgusting. I apologize for the monologue, but when you look

1020
01:09:31,080 --> 01:09:37,720
at it now in 2024 as eyes, there was no accountability for all the fucking horrendous leadership decisions.

1021
01:09:37,720 --> 01:09:44,040
And the fact that they are still trying to take jobs now with that information, that should be,

1022
01:09:44,040 --> 01:09:47,160
that should be fucking stopped today. That is disgusting.

1023
01:09:49,320 --> 01:09:57,880
I see it. And what we're seeing in our society is just they're doubling down on everything they're

1024
01:09:57,880 --> 01:10:04,280
doing and they're blatant. They're being obvious about it. It's not hidden anymore. They're just

1025
01:10:04,280 --> 01:10:08,840
out in the open. But the problem is, is no one wants to challenge it. No one wants to say anything.

1026
01:10:08,840 --> 01:10:14,840
Everybody wants to collect their paycheck every two weeks because they don't want to be, I use it. I

1027
01:10:14,840 --> 01:10:20,360
talk about it in my book that my name is a verb. Okay. Don't want to be Steve Davis because, you

1028
01:10:20,360 --> 01:10:29,240
know, the problem is, is, you know, I was, I wasn't a rogue chief officer. I was looking after my,

1029
01:10:29,240 --> 01:10:37,880
my crew and I was looking after the brand and I wasn't stepping out of line to be disrespectful.

1030
01:10:37,880 --> 01:10:45,640
I wasn't stepping out of line to just be an asshole. I was, I was actively seeking leadership.

1031
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:52,200
I was actively seeking guidance because what I'm looking at is I'm realizing that you are

1032
01:10:52,840 --> 01:10:59,560
now violating people's civil rights. You are violating, you are, you're violating policy

1033
01:11:00,120 --> 01:11:06,440
and, and this is going to come out and you all should be held accountable. Every single person

1034
01:11:06,440 --> 01:11:12,680
that put their name on a piece of paper or signature on the, on the, on a paper, writing someone up,

1035
01:11:12,680 --> 01:11:20,600
they should be held accountable 100%. And it is what it is. I did not do it. And for that,

1036
01:11:21,480 --> 01:11:27,720
I stand on top of the Hill. It is the Hill I die on, but everybody that did not, that, that signed

1037
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:32,040
their name to that sheet of paper, you should be held accountable. And in some cases you should

1038
01:11:32,040 --> 01:11:37,480
lose your job. You should lose your pension. You should lose everything in your career. Like I have.

1039
01:11:37,480 --> 01:11:42,920
Okay. And I want that to be known because it's not right for these people to have done these

1040
01:11:42,920 --> 01:11:46,200
things. And I'm not just talking here in Orange County, I'm talking worldwide.

1041
01:11:46,200 --> 01:11:51,960
Just to interrupt, but repeat that because I know this is true. The responders that were terminated

1042
01:11:51,960 --> 01:11:57,560
over the vaccine mandates lost their pensions as well. Um, not everybody. I didn't lose mine.

1043
01:11:57,560 --> 01:12:04,600
Okay. So I think John did. There are people that lost theirs. Yeah. Um, it depends on state

1044
01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:09,320
jurisdiction. Um, that's fucking disgusting. It is disgusting. The guys in Australia that you

1045
01:12:09,320 --> 01:12:15,560
connected me with years ago, they lost their stuff. Um, physicians have lost their everything.

1046
01:12:15,560 --> 01:12:19,800
And so this is, this is what's sickening. And, and I think that this is, this is very important

1047
01:12:19,800 --> 01:12:24,360
because these people that sign their names on that dotted line to say, Hey, we're going to terminate

1048
01:12:24,360 --> 01:12:29,560
you. You should be held accountable. You should lose everything. You should try to climb out of

1049
01:12:29,560 --> 01:12:34,280
the pit of hell. You should climb out of, out of, out of, out of this ladder. See if somebody comes

1050
01:12:34,280 --> 01:12:42,040
and rescues you. Okay. Cause you did something evil, something wrong. I, I really believe that

1051
01:12:42,040 --> 01:12:50,360
the people, this is modern day, uh, 1940s Germany. It, we are 100% living in it and we are taking

1052
01:12:50,360 --> 01:12:57,880
people's lives through it, through, through this type of stuff. And I, I just, it's, it's saddening,

1053
01:12:57,880 --> 01:13:05,960
but, um, yeah, no, the, the reason I, the reason I stood that, that ground was, was mainly because

1054
01:13:05,960 --> 01:13:12,040
I wanted to protect the brand. I wanted to make sure that, uh, the guys, Hey, we didn't violate

1055
01:13:12,040 --> 01:13:17,480
their civil rights. And I was told to do it or else. And honestly, I didn't think I'd lose my job.

1056
01:13:17,480 --> 01:13:23,240
I didn't think I'd lose my career, my passion, my, my everything I lost. I lost over probably

1057
01:13:23,240 --> 01:13:30,360
1500 hours of sick time that I'll never get back. You know, uh, I lost personal holidays that I'll

1058
01:13:30,360 --> 01:13:38,040
never get back. Okay. Um, I lost a career. I lost promotional opportunities. I, I look, my, my name

1059
01:13:38,040 --> 01:13:43,800
is known around this, this, this town. Okay. You think people are hiring the rogue chief officer?

1060
01:13:43,800 --> 01:13:52,600
No, no, not that I want it anyways, but, um, but my point is, is that, you know, it's, it was all

1061
01:13:52,600 --> 01:13:57,720
made up. It's lies and they stand by it today and they're still going after people. They're

1062
01:13:57,720 --> 01:14:03,720
going to continue going back because everybody that's got their job is living a comfort life

1063
01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:08,040
of two weeks at getting a paycheck while I get mandated. But I, at least I get paid. You know,

1064
01:14:08,040 --> 01:14:13,480
I get, I can work one shift and I could probably make three, 400 bucks in that shift. That's good

1065
01:14:13,480 --> 01:14:18,280
money. I can, I can take care of my boat, you know, that I haven't taken out in months.

1066
01:14:22,280 --> 01:14:25,800
Yeah. I mean, like I said, this is the thing when they were talking about, you know,

1067
01:14:26,760 --> 01:14:30,600
this is for the health of the people, it goes back to that. Well, what have you done to make

1068
01:14:30,600 --> 01:14:35,960
people healthy? And they didn't that. So you can't tell me this is for the health because otherwise

1069
01:14:35,960 --> 01:14:41,640
we would emerge in 20, late 22, early 23 and the schools will have, you know,

1070
01:14:41,640 --> 01:14:46,440
men and women behind the counter making real food, just like we used to in school houses.

1071
01:14:46,440 --> 01:14:50,280
The PE programs would be back. The local farmers would be like, wow, you know, I just got the

1072
01:14:50,280 --> 01:14:54,120
subsidy now I'm going to grow a lot more organic food. I don't have to worry about, you know,

1073
01:14:54,120 --> 01:14:59,160
the bottlenecks of the slaughterhouses or the trucking industry, because you'll have all these

1074
01:14:59,160 --> 01:15:04,200
farms around Ocala that are making food for the local everything. You know what I mean? Nothing,

1075
01:15:04,200 --> 01:15:09,560
none of that. You know, it's funny. I was just in Germany and with my family and we were vacationing

1076
01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:19,160
for a while, almost a month and we ended up, you know, having the bread at a bakery and you could

1077
01:15:19,160 --> 01:15:24,440
buy a loaf of bread at one of the bakeries or, you know, little baguettes or whatever little

1078
01:15:24,440 --> 01:15:31,480
little small ones. And after a day it turns into a crouton. Like it's hard as a rock. Like,

1079
01:15:31,480 --> 01:15:35,400
that's what bread's supposed to do. That's what bread's supposed to do. You go to the local bakery

1080
01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:42,120
here at Publix and I love Publix bread, but it'll last a week, right? It'll last a week. And then

1081
01:15:42,120 --> 01:15:49,480
after a week, then it starts to mold. It doesn't turn into a crouton. It turns into mold. And so

1082
01:15:49,480 --> 01:15:57,320
you, you have to ask yourself, what's in our food here? What's different there? And this is not just

1083
01:15:57,320 --> 01:16:03,320
Germany. This is England. Even the, yeah, if you look at English food standards are a lot higher

1084
01:16:03,320 --> 01:16:09,480
than here. 100%. And that's sad. That's real sad. Now you look at it, English chicken breast. It

1085
01:16:09,480 --> 01:16:14,360
doesn't look like it can bench 400 like ours do here. You know what I mean? You can't have all the

1086
01:16:14,360 --> 01:16:18,280
food coloring. I remember being a kid and there was a thing called E numbers and that was all the

1087
01:16:18,280 --> 01:16:22,680
preservatives and colorings. And they realized that we were bouncing off the walls. And it was

1088
01:16:22,680 --> 01:16:28,920
that stuff that was causing it. My kids don't drink anything but water and milk. Okay. They'll

1089
01:16:28,920 --> 01:16:33,640
once in a while I'll give them, if we out for dinner or something, I'll give them a lemonade.

1090
01:16:33,640 --> 01:16:39,480
I'll reward them. And then the other thing too is like after a soccer game, they might have a juice

1091
01:16:39,480 --> 01:16:47,560
box. Okay. But all the, all the parents for after soccer parties, power aid, Gatorade, and my kids

1092
01:16:47,560 --> 01:16:53,320
know that I got you a Gatorade. I throw it away. I don't drink that crap, but they always bring it

1093
01:16:53,320 --> 01:17:00,360
to me for me to have. But they don't drink that stuff. But I can tell you that when you talk about

1094
01:17:00,360 --> 01:17:08,280
bouncing off the walls, I 100% notice it because my kids get treated to like, I don't deprive them

1095
01:17:08,280 --> 01:17:13,800
of the goodies. Okay. They get, they get the good stuff too, but I notice a difference because

1096
01:17:13,800 --> 01:17:20,360
they're not having it on a regular basis. Like most, most children do the cereals. Yeah. But when

1097
01:17:20,360 --> 01:17:25,720
they get it, it's a, it's a next level kind of thing. I sometimes I wish I was a younger guy

1098
01:17:26,600 --> 01:17:32,680
to keep up, but yeah, you notice it. You notice it. And, and it's funny because we, we make this

1099
01:17:32,680 --> 01:17:37,320
the ADHD. I honestly think it's just like kids are just bouncing off the walls is because they're

1100
01:17:37,320 --> 01:17:42,680
loaded full of sugar. Yeah. 100%. I'll never forget. I worked on a summer camp. And it was the

1101
01:17:42,680 --> 01:17:46,760
first year, which was 1994 and it was American summer camp as an exchange program with like

1102
01:17:46,760 --> 01:17:55,320
post post kind of college university, you know, graduates or students. And the infirmary, like

1103
01:17:55,320 --> 01:17:59,480
there was a lot of English people there. So one of the nurse was one of my friends. And I remember

1104
01:17:59,480 --> 01:18:04,120
going up there and there was a line all the way outside. And I'm like, what the what's going on?

1105
01:18:04,120 --> 01:18:08,520
Is it food poisoning or, you know, diarrhea going around with it? And she's like, no, this is the

1106
01:18:08,520 --> 01:18:14,360
they're here for their Ritalin. I'm like, what's Ritalin? He goes for ADHD or ADD. It was ADD.

1107
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:20,040
Yeah. I'm like, well, what's ADD? And she told me, and I shit you not. I mean, this wasn't a huge

1108
01:18:20,040 --> 01:18:26,840
camp. There was 40 kids lining up for these damn medications and the camp was actually the antidote

1109
01:18:26,840 --> 01:18:31,320
for it. I did all the sports and water sports and you know, you come down and swim and you know,

1110
01:18:31,320 --> 01:18:34,840
water ski for an hour. You're not going to need your Ritalin anymore. You know, you've been in

1111
01:18:34,840 --> 01:18:40,120
the ocean. I mean, the, the, the lake water and the sunshine and, but it's absolutely, you look at

1112
01:18:40,120 --> 01:18:45,160
the diet, you look at Lunchables and all these god awful things that are in the stores and you know,

1113
01:18:45,160 --> 01:18:49,320
and then you throw in devices and then throw in a pandemic where you tell kids don't do anything

1114
01:18:49,320 --> 01:18:52,600
for two years. Then you kick these seniors out of high school and like, what's wrong with you? Go

1115
01:18:52,600 --> 01:18:57,720
get a job. You know, these poor fucking children we've created. And again, it's environment. We

1116
01:18:57,720 --> 01:19:01,720
talked about, you know, the obesity crisis isn't just the individual, it's the environment that

1117
01:19:01,720 --> 01:19:08,040
they're in. We have created an environment that sets up mental ill health and anxiety and ADD.

1118
01:19:08,040 --> 01:19:12,280
And that's what you're seeing in today. Like so many people are, are strung out on, on,

1119
01:19:12,280 --> 01:19:17,400
on social media, making these Tik TOK videos, these Instagram posts, all these different things.

1120
01:19:18,040 --> 01:19:24,760
And you wonder how did they get here? Well, it was just the analogy I use sometimes and I use it in a

1121
01:19:24,760 --> 01:19:30,280
different, a different kind of a explanation, but it's almost taking like a leaky faucet,

1122
01:19:31,160 --> 01:19:35,800
the leaky faucet, you know, it drips. If you were to put a cup there and just watch it drip, drip,

1123
01:19:35,800 --> 01:19:40,680
drip, really, if it's one every five or six seconds, it's going to take forever for it to

1124
01:19:40,680 --> 01:19:45,320
load that glass, to fill that glass. And you're going to think, man, this is taking forever.

1125
01:19:45,320 --> 01:19:50,120
But if you walk away for a few hours, you're going to notice that it's okay. It's filled up.

1126
01:19:50,120 --> 01:19:53,560
But if you walk away for a little bit more, you might, you're not going to notice it. If you're

1127
01:19:53,560 --> 01:19:58,040
just watching it fill up. But if you walk away for a little bit, then you started to overflow.

1128
01:19:58,040 --> 01:20:02,120
And so it's kind of the same, it's kind of same concept in a way is, is that's what's been going

1129
01:20:02,120 --> 01:20:06,440
on in our society where they've added a little bit here, a little bit here, change, change the law

1130
01:20:06,440 --> 01:20:12,360
here. Oh, it's just two weeks. Oh, it's just a, it's just a mask. Oh, it's just a vaccination.

1131
01:20:12,360 --> 01:20:16,120
Oh, it's just a mandate, blah, blah, blah. You know, it's just, this is just that. Oh, it's just,

1132
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:22,440
you know, a little bit of sugar. Oh, it's just a Gatorade, a sports drink, you know, with crap ton

1133
01:20:22,440 --> 01:20:28,200
of sugar. Oh, it's just a soda. Like my kids don't drink soda. My son hates it. Hates the bubbles.

1134
01:20:28,200 --> 01:20:33,800
Thank God you can't stand carbonation. So I won the lottery there. Lemonade is actually the only

1135
01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:39,080
drink. Yeah. Lemonade is, is, and there's sometimes lemonade is, is not the best either, but it's a,

1136
01:20:39,080 --> 01:20:44,200
it's a nice little refreshing treat for, you know, my young kids. Yeah. Every now and again,

1137
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:48,440
they drink water. The ingredients are pretty straightforward though. Lemon, well, depending

1138
01:20:48,440 --> 01:20:53,560
on where you go, but yes, you can, you can get it. You can, you can manage it. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

1139
01:20:53,560 --> 01:20:59,480
Well then, so that was kind of the journey, you know, took you to when we sat down two years ago.

1140
01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:06,520
So firstly, walk me through the impact on your family, on you mentally, of finding yourself

1141
01:21:06,520 --> 01:21:13,160
outside minus sick time, paid holidays, salary, healthcare, et cetera, et cetera. And then walk

1142
01:21:13,160 --> 01:21:18,760
me through up to today, what have been the highs, what have been the lows? Well, so, you know,

1143
01:21:18,760 --> 01:21:27,160
leaving, being forcefully pulled out of Orange County, removed from that department. I honestly

1144
01:21:27,160 --> 01:21:30,760
didn't think I was going to get terminated. I thought that I'd get suspended at most, you know,

1145
01:21:30,760 --> 01:21:36,520
they, they, they, they fired me for misconduct and subordination because I refuse to write people up

1146
01:21:36,520 --> 01:21:43,160
is essentially what it is over the mandate, over the mandates. And you didn't get the vaccination.

1147
01:21:43,160 --> 01:21:47,080
You're supposed to get written up, but you had a religious exemption was where my stance was.

1148
01:21:47,080 --> 01:21:51,400
There was people who had religious exemptions and because they had a religious exemption,

1149
01:21:51,400 --> 01:21:55,800
because they had medical exemptions, I recognize these things. There was some individuals who had

1150
01:21:55,800 --> 01:22:00,440
gotten their vaccination and I seen their cards and they were on the list. And I addressed that

1151
01:22:00,440 --> 01:22:04,840
with my supervisors and they terminated me because I refused to write those people up.

1152
01:22:06,360 --> 01:22:10,600
So to make that really clear for everybody that's listening, that may have heard my,

1153
01:22:10,600 --> 01:22:15,960
that are hearing my story for the first time, you were on a list and you had a religious exemption.

1154
01:22:15,960 --> 01:22:20,760
You were on a list and had a medical exemption. You were on a list and actually turned in your

1155
01:22:20,760 --> 01:22:27,240
vaccination card. And my responsibility as the chief officer was to write you up. Okay. Now that

1156
01:22:27,240 --> 01:22:31,720
can affect your training or that could affect your, your promotions in the future. That could affect

1157
01:22:31,720 --> 01:22:37,160
your transfer rights. There's some other things too. Okay. When I came forward and did this, they,

1158
01:22:37,160 --> 01:22:42,600
they sent me home, suspended me. And then two weeks later, they, they fired me. I thought I would get

1159
01:22:42,600 --> 01:22:49,800
suspended. The funny thing is, is there's a documented records evidence of firefighters

1160
01:22:49,800 --> 01:22:55,880
striking patients while restrained by handcuffs caught on video. Uh, he kept his job for five

1161
01:22:55,880 --> 01:23:00,840
months, then terminated, got his job, bought back six months later, just did a public records

1162
01:23:00,840 --> 01:23:04,600
request. Now this individual is sitting at the maintenance. He's not even working on the truck

1163
01:23:04,600 --> 01:23:09,000
anymore. So, and there's no record of discipline. So why is he nodding on that? Not on the truck now,

1164
01:23:09,000 --> 01:23:15,080
why is he back at maintenance? So there's these inconsistencies with terminating people with

1165
01:23:15,080 --> 01:23:21,880
discipline. There was another, there's another, a lieutenant who was, um, um,

1166
01:23:23,000 --> 01:23:29,960
domestic violence arrested, put in jail for the weekend, got out, got it, got, uh, got a 36 hour,

1167
01:23:29,960 --> 01:23:35,960
um, suspension. So two individuals that I just said, something with violent crime, and I should

1168
01:23:35,960 --> 01:23:42,280
say crime, but a violent activity, okay. An aggressive activity. They put their hands on

1169
01:23:42,280 --> 01:23:46,680
somebody and they, one didn't lose his job for five months, got it back. The other only got

1170
01:23:46,680 --> 01:23:52,040
suspended. I literally just said, Hey, look at this list. It's incorrect. We shouldn't be writing

1171
01:23:52,040 --> 01:23:57,640
these people up. Do it anyways is what they tell me. And I said, no. And because I said no, I lost

1172
01:23:57,640 --> 01:24:04,040
my career. So with that being said, you know, being pulled out of a fire service, uh, so abruptly,

1173
01:24:04,040 --> 01:24:09,240
um, it did change everything because, you know, the only thing I knew, I was a fireman. That's the

1174
01:24:09,240 --> 01:24:15,320
only thing I knew. Just like that lieutenant I was saying earlier, I, I'm not, I was getting ready to

1175
01:24:15,320 --> 01:24:20,680
graduate with my masters, but I was like, I don't know anything else. Like this is all I know. What

1176
01:24:20,680 --> 01:24:27,080
can I do? Fortunately, you know, I had a, um, a department that picked me up in 13 days. So I

1177
01:24:27,080 --> 01:24:32,680
already knew that I was, I was good. Um, I had, I had two months that I had to figure out, uh,

1178
01:24:32,680 --> 01:24:37,400
two and a half months that I had to figure out, you know, income. Um, actually I guess three months

1179
01:24:37,400 --> 01:24:41,400
because you don't get paid for two weeks once you get picked up somewhere. But so, but so three

1180
01:24:41,400 --> 01:24:45,640
months I had to figure out what was income. Now I've been a pretty good planner. So I had stuff in

1181
01:24:45,640 --> 01:24:52,760
savings. Um, and then, um, I had a lot of people that supported me at the time and came out and,

1182
01:24:52,760 --> 01:24:57,480
uh, there was some, uh, some crowdfunding that gave me a little bit of money that, that, that was able

1183
01:24:57,480 --> 01:25:04,120
to get me through the holidays. Uh, so God, God look after me now. I'll tell you, uh, I said it

1184
01:25:04,120 --> 01:25:09,400
then. And I think, uh, I said it then and I say today, you know, I think God's my plan was to

1185
01:25:09,400 --> 01:25:13,560
finish my 25, 30 years in Orange County, that that's not God's plan. He closed that door,

1186
01:25:13,560 --> 01:25:18,040
opened up another plan, opened up another door and another fire service, a fire department.

1187
01:25:18,040 --> 01:25:22,040
I went to that fire department. I think he gave me that job because I was there for a year and a

1188
01:25:22,040 --> 01:25:28,200
half before I got forced out again. And I was there for a year and a half. And, um, I think he

1189
01:25:28,200 --> 01:25:34,040
gave me that job to give me closure because I love the fire department so much, uh, that I,

1190
01:25:34,040 --> 01:25:42,440
I could not let it go. Like I, I turned down a job, um, for a division chief position in Lake County.

1191
01:25:42,440 --> 01:25:49,560
I turned down a job for 250 a year, um, because I had to be a fireman. I had to be a fireman.

1192
01:25:49,560 --> 01:25:53,960
And I turned this job down. I got, when I, when I, when I got terminated from Orange County,

1193
01:25:53,960 --> 01:25:58,760
I got publicized with the governor, with attorneys, with, with the attorney general,

1194
01:25:58,760 --> 01:26:06,040
with all kinds of politicians at local, uh, national. Okay. I was on several national, um,

1195
01:26:06,040 --> 01:26:14,520
um, media, um, um, uh, shows and, um, I got, I got picked up, I interviewed for a position

1196
01:26:14,520 --> 01:26:19,480
and the owner of the company says, yeah, this is what your salary will be $250,000. Tell me

1197
01:26:19,480 --> 01:26:22,520
that that's not a good amount of money. That's a lot of money.

1198
01:26:23,000 --> 01:26:24,520
It's a little bit more than they made in Orange County.

1199
01:26:24,520 --> 01:26:29,480
I only made, I made about 150 in Orange County. Okay. But that's working a crap ton of overtime.

1200
01:26:29,480 --> 01:26:38,040
Okay. But I made 50 and that was during the medic crisis. I put myself through medic school here.

1201
01:26:38,040 --> 01:26:42,680
They wouldn't even give me tuition reimbursement. Wow. And I actually lost money over those five

1202
01:26:42,680 --> 01:26:47,560
years. Cause over those five years is when that bull prick governor that we had before, Rick,

1203
01:26:47,560 --> 01:26:54,920
whatever his name was, um, he, uh, he made the pension smaller. So I actually made less money

1204
01:26:54,920 --> 01:26:58,520
five years than when I got hired as a new guy. Cause the medic doesn't count. I put myself

1205
01:26:58,520 --> 01:27:04,840
through that got zero help. So yeah, I made less money. So that was, yeah. So yeah. 250 is about

1206
01:27:04,840 --> 01:27:10,520
five times what I've times now. Now, granted I made, I made about 150 when I was a battalion.

1207
01:27:10,520 --> 01:27:15,960
Okay. But I was working tons of overtime. I was working dive team. I was working maintenance.

1208
01:27:15,960 --> 01:27:20,280
I was working, uh, stuff for the hurricanes, deploy, getting things ready for deployment.

1209
01:27:20,280 --> 01:27:24,920
So I was constantly working. Okay. I wasn't at home with my family. So I,

1210
01:27:24,920 --> 01:27:31,960
yes, the 150 is a lot of money and it was, but, um, I was gone a lot and I had two young kids.

1211
01:27:31,960 --> 01:27:37,720
I had a wife, I have a family, you know? Um, but I, I sat at an interview for this position

1212
01:27:37,720 --> 01:27:40,920
and the owner, he said he was going to, this is what he was going to, this is my salary is going

1213
01:27:40,920 --> 01:27:46,760
to be. And I sat there and I said, listen, um, I really do appreciate the offer. I said, I've got

1214
01:27:46,760 --> 01:27:53,160
an interview next week, um, for a, uh, position. And, um, it looks like I'm going to get, it was

1215
01:27:53,160 --> 01:27:57,160
the callback. Uh, I'd already interviewed, but it was a callback. And I said, I really want to make

1216
01:27:57,160 --> 01:28:03,000
sure that I'm not, that I don't have this spot. And I knew that I wasn't going to make the money.

1217
01:28:03,000 --> 01:28:08,120
Like it advertised for less than a hundred thousand. Okay. I made a hundred four, um,

1218
01:28:08,120 --> 01:28:15,240
after the first year. Um, so he goes, he looked at me like I was crazy and he's like, he's like,

1219
01:28:16,040 --> 01:28:23,400
dude, I'm offering you double, double and a half of that. And I'm like, I know I said,

1220
01:28:23,400 --> 01:28:29,160
and I, and I hope this job is still available after next Tuesday. And on Tuesday I got the

1221
01:28:29,160 --> 01:28:33,400
phone call. I got accepted as the next division chief there. And I took the position and I called

1222
01:28:33,400 --> 01:28:37,960
that guy up and I said, I really do appreciate your time for, for believing in me, but you know,

1223
01:28:37,960 --> 01:28:43,080
this is where I'm supposed to be. And, uh, I believe that because, uh, that that's the door.

1224
01:28:43,080 --> 01:28:48,520
I think God kind of like said, well, this is, I'm giving you a chance to really make some money,

1225
01:28:48,520 --> 01:28:53,160
but it's out of the fire service. But I wasn't ready to give it up. Like it was still a passion,

1226
01:28:53,160 --> 01:28:58,520
but I needed another year and a half to kind of get closure. The time that I had in Lake County

1227
01:28:58,520 --> 01:29:04,280
was an amazing time. I got to accomplish a many, many, many things. Um, my resume, I built it up

1228
01:29:04,280 --> 01:29:12,680
even bigger while I was there. Um, but the writing was on the wall. I, I saw it. I saw the same

1229
01:29:12,680 --> 01:29:20,520
nonsense. I saw the same, same, uh, people in the positions of authority that were doing the same

1230
01:29:20,520 --> 01:29:28,600
dictating of these, of these, these illegal unlawful things. And I just didn't want to be a part of

1231
01:29:28,600 --> 01:29:33,720
it anymore. And that's when I knew I had to leave. And, um, I ended up walking away that, um, about

1232
01:29:33,720 --> 01:29:41,560
a year and a half after that, the job that you were offered to 54, was that an industry where

1233
01:29:42,440 --> 01:29:47,480
you were making the world better? Because where I see, yeah, no. So where I see a lot of people

1234
01:29:47,480 --> 01:29:52,520
struggle in their transition is they go for the money, but then they realize that they were a

1235
01:29:52,520 --> 01:29:57,560
selfless servant in uniform and you can serve in a thousand different ways. I would argue that my

1236
01:29:57,560 --> 01:30:02,040
books and the podcast is serving, but I'm not wearing a badge anymore, but that's why I think

1237
01:30:02,040 --> 01:30:05,400
about it when I wake up and I think about it before I go to sleep, you know, it's still that

1238
01:30:05,400 --> 01:30:09,960
calling, but it's interesting how people are offered money, but if they're our kind of people,

1239
01:30:10,760 --> 01:30:15,640
that doesn't sway you. It might temporarily. And then you wonder why you're so fucking miserable

1240
01:30:15,640 --> 01:30:21,800
because you've got to find a way of serving that of course will pay the bills, but service is the

1241
01:30:21,800 --> 01:30:28,040
first currency, not the dollar. Yep. Money, money doesn't drive me. I like money and I do very well

1242
01:30:28,040 --> 01:30:34,840
right now. I just quoted just several numbers. I'm doing much more than that, but, um, and God has

1243
01:30:34,840 --> 01:30:41,720
blessed me, but, um, with those things, but money's not my drive. You know, I like it. It helps me out.

1244
01:30:41,720 --> 01:30:48,440
You know, it gives, it gives me financial freedom. It gives me, it gives me opportunity for so many

1245
01:30:48,440 --> 01:30:52,440
different things. I can travel. I can take my family wherever I want, whenever I want.

1246
01:30:53,160 --> 01:31:00,760
I have that control. I have the control. I make the rules. I, and, and what I do today is I serve,

1247
01:31:00,760 --> 01:31:06,280
I still serve. Um, I serve others in other ways. I think I have a bigger platform. Now I have a

1248
01:31:06,280 --> 01:31:16,440
bigger opportunity. I'm not see where orange County messed up is they, they chose the wrong person

1249
01:31:16,440 --> 01:31:27,320
to do what they did. Anybody else, anybody else would have gotten their whole and died, found

1250
01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:33,880
something else, and then just lived on their life. Anybody else, but me, I'm going to say something.

1251
01:31:33,880 --> 01:31:40,920
Okay. If you had kept me on payroll, you would have kept those chains around my wrists around

1252
01:31:40,920 --> 01:31:45,320
my cause I would have still been wanting my two week paycheck, right? I would have still had,

1253
01:31:45,320 --> 01:31:50,440
I freaking hate these guys, but I would have still been fighting like internally, but I couldn't say

1254
01:31:50,440 --> 01:31:54,520
anything, but they would have still had control over me. The fact that they let me go, they

1255
01:31:54,520 --> 01:32:02,520
terminated my position only made my voice stronger. Okay. It only made me more like, okay, I did

1256
01:32:02,520 --> 01:32:09,960
something right because they had to get rid of me. What they did was to say, let's see if anybody

1257
01:32:09,960 --> 01:32:14,120
else. And I referred to it earlier as my name's a verb. No one wants to be Steve Davis. That's why

1258
01:32:14,120 --> 01:32:21,160
they don't get out of line. They won't say something because if they say something, the fear is they're

1259
01:32:21,160 --> 01:32:25,800
going to lose it all. Like I did now, a lot of people said, Oh, I'm glad to see you land on your

1260
01:32:25,800 --> 01:32:31,560
feet. Well, I never left my feet. Like I hear people tell me that all the time. I never left

1261
01:32:31,560 --> 01:32:36,680
my feet. I was always on my foot. I was still walking. I might've got pushed back a little bit,

1262
01:32:36,680 --> 01:32:43,480
but I was, I'd never left my feet. And, but yeah, I mean, I ended up, I ended up getting out of the

1263
01:32:43,480 --> 01:32:47,960
fire service last June. I'm doing, I'm doing a lot better now, but I'm serving, I'm serving in another,

1264
01:32:48,920 --> 01:32:54,920
another way. What industry do you find yourself in that you are doing financially well now? Well,

1265
01:32:54,920 --> 01:33:00,600
I do, I help people with finances. So that's, that's one thing I do now. I help, I was kind

1266
01:33:00,600 --> 01:33:05,960
of telling you how I kind of guide people into saying, thinking that they're more than what,

1267
01:33:05,960 --> 01:33:10,120
something else. Okay. So I'm teaching those things. I'm teaching leadership skills,

1268
01:33:10,680 --> 01:33:17,320
financing, stuff like that. And my bigger, my bigger thing that that's really more of my service.

1269
01:33:17,320 --> 01:33:22,760
Okay. So is, is my raising office project. So my business partner and I, we started this company

1270
01:33:22,760 --> 01:33:27,160
a couple of years ago and it's really about teaching the next generation, raising the next

1271
01:33:27,160 --> 01:33:33,080
generation of leaders, not followers. So it's, it's really honing in on our young men and women

1272
01:33:33,080 --> 01:33:39,240
to teach them what's right and wrong, to stand up for something, to challenge what doesn't seem

1273
01:33:39,240 --> 01:33:44,920
right. So many people will walk by and see something wrong and not say a single thing.

1274
01:33:44,920 --> 01:33:49,800
You see these social experiments on the, on a social media all the time, where there'll be

1275
01:33:49,800 --> 01:33:55,960
people walking around in a busy city and a young kid is pulled into a dark alleyway by some, and

1276
01:33:55,960 --> 01:34:00,040
they're screaming and not one person's does anything. They stay on their phone and they

1277
01:34:00,040 --> 01:34:05,080
continue walking. Okay. And that's, and that's kind of what we're doing today is people are not,

1278
01:34:05,080 --> 01:34:09,320
are not, they don't understand these things. And so what, what the raising office project teaches,

1279
01:34:09,320 --> 01:34:13,800
one, it's about parents being more engaged and involved with their kids. Okay. Let's not put them

1280
01:34:13,800 --> 01:34:17,640
on a cell phone. Let's not put them in front of the TV. Let's be active. Let's get out there and

1281
01:34:17,640 --> 01:34:22,840
throw the football, throw the kick, the soccer ball. Okay. Run around, have a good time play.

1282
01:34:22,840 --> 01:34:28,600
Okay. Go on long walks, teach them. Okay. I mean, I'm doing a meet the teacher yesterday,

1283
01:34:28,600 --> 01:34:34,440
my second grader, he just got into second grade two days ago and she's like, um, yeah, your son

1284
01:34:34,440 --> 01:34:38,760
was asking about multiplication tables. Like when did we start that? Because they're working on

1285
01:34:38,760 --> 01:34:43,160
addition and subtraction now. And I don't know what's normal in that grade, but when I asked her,

1286
01:34:43,160 --> 01:34:47,080
I said, well, when do you guys start doing multiplication? He says in the fourth period,

1287
01:34:47,080 --> 01:34:51,160
our fourth part of the school year. So they're not going to touch it till the end, almost third

1288
01:34:51,160 --> 01:34:56,760
grade for him. But my son already knows all that because he's got an older brother and, and we will

1289
01:34:56,760 --> 01:35:02,920
literally be riding around in our, in the truck and I'll go and they'll ask me, Hey, what's nine

1290
01:35:02,920 --> 01:35:07,640
times nine, what's seven times seven. And they're both shooting the answers off. Okay. And it, and

1291
01:35:07,640 --> 01:35:11,880
it's kind of a cool, so like that's a cool thing, but those are some of the games that we play,

1292
01:35:11,880 --> 01:35:15,880
you know, some of the games that I play with both my kids is monopoly. I talk about that all the

1293
01:35:15,880 --> 01:35:20,840
time. I think monopoly is one of the best games, uh, board games out there. And I think it's important

1294
01:35:20,840 --> 01:35:26,280
for parents to do these things is you put a monopoly board on the table and you teach the

1295
01:35:26,280 --> 01:35:29,880
kids are you roll the dice and you go around the board. Once you pass this right here, you get

1296
01:35:29,880 --> 01:35:37,000
another $200. That is life. Every two weeks you're passing go. That is your business. That is, that is

1297
01:35:37,000 --> 01:35:43,080
being an employee. You're going around the board doing that. Those of us that are buying properties

1298
01:35:43,640 --> 01:35:48,680
are the entrepreneurs. That's what I am. Now I've stepped out of the, get my paycheck every two

1299
01:35:48,680 --> 01:35:53,080
weeks and passing go. I'm the entrepreneur that's buying up land. I'm the entrepreneur that's

1300
01:35:53,080 --> 01:35:57,640
putting properties down. Now I'm charging you. Now I'm getting cashflow constantly.

1301
01:35:57,640 --> 01:36:02,120
So my sons are learning the game of monopoly. They're learning the game of like, this is how

1302
01:36:02,120 --> 01:36:07,320
life is. I can go around the board your entire life and just collect that to that paycheck every

1303
01:36:07,320 --> 01:36:12,200
month, every month you get a paycheck, but you're not ever going to get ahead. You're always going

1304
01:36:12,200 --> 01:36:17,720
to live paycheck to paycheck because you're not taking the risk. I tell people about taking risk

1305
01:36:17,720 --> 01:36:23,240
today. Like I take risk today. Okay. When I was in the fire service, I was not afraid of going into

1306
01:36:23,240 --> 01:36:28,760
a fire and saving someone's life. Now I never had a sleeve like that. All I say, I, I save more

1307
01:36:28,760 --> 01:36:36,200
people's life with the patch on my shoulder than the brass on my collar. Okay. And I, I, I climbed

1308
01:36:36,200 --> 01:36:41,960
up to the third in command of a department division chief, a department, and I save more people with

1309
01:36:41,960 --> 01:36:48,520
the paramedic patch than I did with my rank. Okay. Now, now my job is to steer people in a leadership

1310
01:36:48,520 --> 01:36:53,880
role outside of the fire service to say, Hey, look, you're more than just a insert blank. Okay.

1311
01:36:55,080 --> 01:36:58,600
And that's, that's kind of what I do now. So I'm serving in a community in that search. I want

1312
01:36:58,600 --> 01:37:04,840
people to be better parents. I want kids to, to, to respect things, you know, respect their elders,

1313
01:37:04,840 --> 01:37:10,040
respect their teachers, respect, you know, their coaches, you know, there's so much influence out

1314
01:37:10,040 --> 01:37:14,440
there. And if we don't take advantage of those things, coaches taking advantage of the opportunity

1315
01:37:14,440 --> 01:37:20,440
to coach young men and women as, as a soccer coach or a football coach or a cheerleading coach or a

1316
01:37:20,440 --> 01:37:24,920
track coach or whatever it is, you know, taking that opportunity. And that's what I do today.

1317
01:37:24,920 --> 01:37:30,760
That's my passion now. So love it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's funny. I had a, I had a really

1318
01:37:30,760 --> 01:37:36,680
bizarre encounter a few days ago at Publix. Funny enough, I was coming up shopping as a pleasure.

1319
01:37:36,680 --> 01:37:42,120
That is, that's actually, I love that place. Um, but my dad worked there. He used to always said,

1320
01:37:42,120 --> 01:37:45,400
um, uh, yeah, I work at Publix. We're shopping as a pleasure and working as a bitch.

1321
01:37:47,080 --> 01:37:51,480
That's his saying. So, I mean, I never worked there, but I, I can hear it. Yeah. I, I enjoy

1322
01:37:51,480 --> 01:37:57,240
shopping there. I can imagine being in the meat department for decades. It gets a little tiresome,

1323
01:37:57,880 --> 01:38:02,920
but yeah. So I see this car shoot out across 200 is the 200 is a three lane, 50 mile an hour road,

1324
01:38:02,920 --> 01:38:09,480
um, each way and comes out of this dealership flies across like one shoots out. Then this other one

1325
01:38:09,480 --> 01:38:14,280
comes almost hits the first one. Then he cuts in anyway. I I'm, you know, like quarter of a mile

1326
01:38:14,280 --> 01:38:21,000
back. So then I pull into Publix and then the same car is there. He fricking does a fricking donut

1327
01:38:21,000 --> 01:38:25,880
from the, you know, and there's people four spaces up in a woman putting our groceries away and stuff.

1328
01:38:26,440 --> 01:38:30,360
And then does, you know, screeching tires and pulls past me and I throw my hands up instinctively,

1329
01:38:30,360 --> 01:38:33,800
like, what the fuck you doing? Cause I already saw what you did back there. And you always kill

1330
01:38:33,800 --> 01:38:38,760
people and he stops and he gets out of his car. I'm like, Oh fuck, here we go. So anyway, he walks

1331
01:38:38,760 --> 01:38:43,320
over to me, you know, what's your problem, man? I said, look, I'm, I was a firefighter. I said,

1332
01:38:43,320 --> 01:38:48,360
I see what happens when people drive like you drive. I said, people get hurt or people fucking

1333
01:38:48,360 --> 01:38:53,320
get killed. So that's why I'm throwing my hands up. I saw you cut across all the traffic before,

1334
01:38:53,320 --> 01:38:56,920
you know, you know, you almost hit someone. If you keep driving like this, you are going to hit

1335
01:38:56,920 --> 01:39:01,400
someone. And this guy, and he was a black bloke looked like he worked out probably, you know,

1336
01:39:01,400 --> 01:39:06,920
about our age or my age. Um, you know, and he reached out his arm and he shook my hand and he

1337
01:39:06,920 --> 01:39:11,560
said, thank you. So someone needed to check. He was probably having a bad day. You know what I mean?

1338
01:39:11,560 --> 01:39:16,920
Now I could also have been shot on the spot. This is America. So it could have been a much

1339
01:39:16,920 --> 01:39:21,000
worse story, but the point was, and I had a similar thing. There was a kid terrorizing our

1340
01:39:21,000 --> 01:39:27,160
neighborhood of about a year ago now, young kid. And, you know, on the Facebook chat here, they're

1341
01:39:27,160 --> 01:39:30,600
like, oh, you know, they need to do this. They need to do that. They need to put speed bumps in

1342
01:39:30,600 --> 01:39:34,920
like, well, maybe someone needs to talk to his fucking dad. So anyway, with the help of a couple

1343
01:39:34,920 --> 01:39:40,040
of them, they figured out who he was. I found a dad, unusual last name works in a local dealership,

1344
01:39:40,040 --> 01:39:43,800
plunked my ass in front of him in his office and said, is this your kid? You know, showed him a

1345
01:39:43,800 --> 01:39:49,400
picture of the same car. And he immediately called his wife. They took the keys from the kid.

1346
01:39:49,400 --> 01:39:56,040
Didn't see him for like three, four months. And now that kid drives with utmost respect. And he's

1347
01:39:56,040 --> 01:40:01,960
even waved to me before I have zero animosity kudos to you for having the humility to actually

1348
01:40:01,960 --> 01:40:05,640
go, you know what? I was driving like a little asshole and I'm going to, I'm going to stop

1349
01:40:05,640 --> 01:40:08,600
doing that. Cause I mean, literally he almost wiped out in front of the bus stop when the kids

1350
01:40:08,600 --> 01:40:13,320
were there. Yeah. 60 and a 30. That's the kind of driving it was. And all it took was just you

1351
01:40:13,320 --> 01:40:17,320
actually stepping up and saying, I'm going to be part of the solution. Yeah. And too many people

1352
01:40:17,320 --> 01:40:20,760
will turn their head. Yeah. So back to your ignoring the alleyway. And that's obviously an

1353
01:40:20,760 --> 01:40:24,280
extremes, you know, there's lots of people that would have beat the shit out of that person.

1354
01:40:25,320 --> 01:40:30,680
But if we just stop thinking that everyone is going to be that one psychotic person with a gun,

1355
01:40:30,680 --> 01:40:35,240
that everyone's too scared to do anything. And we just all come together and say, you need to stop

1356
01:40:35,240 --> 01:40:40,600
driving fast in our neighborhood or whatever the thing is, you know, and then the majority is going

1357
01:40:40,600 --> 01:40:45,720
to be behind that person. You've changed, you've changed this country completely. But if it's just,

1358
01:40:45,720 --> 01:40:52,520
I've got everyone else, how do you get the masses to, you need to stop dividing the country for a

1359
01:40:52,520 --> 01:40:59,960
start left and right. We do that. We do that every single day. Um, my brother and I don't agree a lot

1360
01:40:59,960 --> 01:41:05,480
agree a lot on politics. And yesterday we talked on the phone. It was, it was, uh, I don't say

1361
01:41:05,480 --> 01:41:10,440
amazing. It was, it was brutal. Uh, it was five and a half hours. We talked on the phone and I hadn't

1362
01:41:10,440 --> 01:41:15,480
been on a phone like that since I was probably in high school with somebody, but five and a half

1363
01:41:15,480 --> 01:41:22,120
hours, we talked on the phone nonstop and it was about politics. And we have, we have 100% difference

1364
01:41:22,120 --> 01:41:26,840
in politics and it's okay. And I told him, man, I love you to death. I said, but you're wrong,

1365
01:41:26,840 --> 01:41:32,280
you know, and he tells me, I love you to death, but you're wrong. And it is what it is. And, but

1366
01:41:32,280 --> 01:41:38,440
at the end of the day, I said to him and, and with, and with, um, you know, a very calm, um,

1367
01:41:38,440 --> 01:41:48,120
collected voice, it's like, um, we're not going to agree on everything, but it's, that's okay.

1368
01:41:48,120 --> 01:41:55,160
You know, it's okay to, to, but us having this conversation is, is important. You know, my, my

1369
01:41:55,160 --> 01:42:02,440
wife, um, and her sister got into a, an argument while we're in Germany. And again, two different

1370
01:42:02,440 --> 01:42:09,800
sides of the coin. Okay. Um, we believe my wife and I align, okay. And, um, our siblings, they're

1371
01:42:09,800 --> 01:42:16,600
on the same, they align. Okay. And, um, but they got in an argument and they weren't talking for

1372
01:42:16,600 --> 01:42:22,680
like a solid day, maybe a day and a half. And, um, I went to her sister and I said, listen, I said,

1373
01:42:22,680 --> 01:42:29,560
listen, um, you and I don't agree on, on, on, on a lot of things. She's, uh, she, she does stuff with

1374
01:42:29,560 --> 01:42:34,040
like a doesn't believe in, uh, eating meat and stuff like that. So that was a conversation too.

1375
01:42:34,040 --> 01:42:39,160
But, um, I said, you're never going to convince me of this and I'm never going to convince you

1376
01:42:39,160 --> 01:42:45,960
of this, but that's okay. Okay. We're still family. Okay. That's your sister. Okay. It's your only

1377
01:42:45,960 --> 01:42:52,840
sister. Okay. So those are things that like, let's not waste time fighting about something so stupid.

1378
01:42:52,840 --> 01:42:58,760
Like we can talk about it if we just stay cool. Like my brother got a little heated and loud and

1379
01:42:58,760 --> 01:43:02,920
I got a little heated and loud, but at the end of the night, we're still laughing and making jokes.

1380
01:43:02,920 --> 01:43:07,080
And this morning he's calling me again. And I'm like, I'm not talking to you doing that right now.

1381
01:43:07,080 --> 01:43:14,200
Like I'm done with you. Uh, but, um, but I think that's where our, our world needs to come to,

1382
01:43:14,200 --> 01:43:19,480
you know, especially this country, there's, uh, you know, it's a good thing. I'm melting pot, um,

1383
01:43:19,480 --> 01:43:24,280
that we have accepted. Um, the one thing I don't like about, like when I was in Germany, it is

1384
01:43:24,280 --> 01:43:29,400
becoming a melting pot in Europe. I personally don't like it because when I go to Europe, I want

1385
01:43:29,400 --> 01:43:35,000
to see German culture. Okay. I don't want to see Italian culture. If I go to Italy, I want to see

1386
01:43:35,000 --> 01:43:40,840
Italian culture. I don't want to see German culture. Okay. And there's been an influx of, um, um,

1387
01:43:40,840 --> 01:43:48,280
refugees. And so it's changing the dynamics of the cultures. And, um, I like that. I think for our

1388
01:43:48,280 --> 01:43:54,360
country, you know, because we are a melting pot is it's, it's different here. Okay. But with that,

1389
01:43:54,360 --> 01:44:01,400
everybody has different beliefs, different, um, stances on different things. And with that,

1390
01:44:01,400 --> 01:44:06,440
it also creates that division because we align with what you've said it several times, a tribe.

1391
01:44:07,160 --> 01:44:12,120
So if I'm of Muslim faith, I'm going to align with that tribe of Christian faith with that,

1392
01:44:12,120 --> 01:44:18,360
with Jewish, with that, that's religion. If we're talking, um, ethnic background, that's another

1393
01:44:19,160 --> 01:44:26,200
tribe that we associate ourselves with. But, but then we work all together in a really diverse

1394
01:44:27,000 --> 01:44:32,120
group and we have to get along. And I think that we can get along if people have these conversations.

1395
01:44:33,480 --> 01:44:39,320
What are the three things that they, that we are told never to talk about in the fire department?

1396
01:44:39,320 --> 01:44:45,960
Politics, religion, and your salary. Three things. You hit it right on the head.

1397
01:44:45,960 --> 01:44:52,280
You hit it right on the head. Politics, religion, and money. Why is that? Well, if we talk about

1398
01:44:52,280 --> 01:44:56,680
money, we're net, if we don't talk about money, we're never going to get better at it. Okay. Let

1399
01:44:56,680 --> 01:45:02,840
me, let me expand on that a little bit. So when I became a lieutenant, I didn't just one day

1400
01:45:03,880 --> 01:45:09,000
become a lieutenant. I had to study for it. I had to train for it. And I had to ask my lieutenant,

1401
01:45:09,000 --> 01:45:14,280
Hey, how do you become a lieutenant? Same thing as a chief officer. Okay. I took the captain's test.

1402
01:45:14,280 --> 01:45:18,440
Same thing as a captain. Do you need any leadership classes? No, no, no. Just take the officer class.

1403
01:45:18,440 --> 01:45:22,040
You don't need to actually learn how to lead. That's true. That's true. Some people just fall

1404
01:45:22,040 --> 01:45:31,640
into the position, but you know, uh, and DI is a real thing. Um, but the way you become a paramedic,

1405
01:45:31,640 --> 01:45:36,600
you had to figure out how do I get to school? Okay. Where do I apply? How do I become a squad tech?

1406
01:45:36,600 --> 01:45:41,480
How do I become a truckie? How to become a diver? You ask somebody. Okay. So we don't talk about

1407
01:45:41,480 --> 01:45:46,600
those three things. So finances, how am I ever going to get better at becoming financially free?

1408
01:45:46,600 --> 01:45:51,640
If I don't talk about it, if I never talk about money, if I never talk about bettering myself in

1409
01:45:51,640 --> 01:45:56,040
the financial world, money is not the root of, I know they say money is the root of all evil. No,

1410
01:45:56,040 --> 01:46:04,520
money is a tool. Okay. If you make it a idol, then now it's the evil. Okay. Greed is the root of all

1411
01:46:04,520 --> 01:46:11,080
evil, not money. Greed is the same way that, you know, a gun can sure get dinner on a table or

1412
01:46:11,080 --> 01:46:17,000
slaughter a bunch of kids. Sure. Yeah. So, so when we talk about finances at the dinner table,

1413
01:46:17,000 --> 01:46:21,400
okay. And that's where I sit at a different table today is, is you're improving yourself financially.

1414
01:46:21,400 --> 01:46:25,480
And I think that's an important thing. The other thing is religion. Okay. Spiritually, we need to,

1415
01:46:25,480 --> 01:46:30,520
we need to improve ourselves. Okay. So we need to talk about, we need to talk about religion. If

1416
01:46:30,520 --> 01:46:34,920
you're sitting across the table from me and you're of Muslim religion and I'm of Christian

1417
01:46:34,920 --> 01:46:40,760
religion, there's a lot of similarities in those religions, believe it or not. Actually, we're more

1418
01:46:40,760 --> 01:46:47,880
online together than the Jews, than us, us, the Jews, believe it or not. But my point being is that

1419
01:46:49,160 --> 01:46:53,400
there's nothing wrong with people from other cultures and religions. We just have to, let's,

1420
01:46:53,400 --> 01:47:01,560
let's get to know them. I had a, I had a lady take me home from the airport last year. And she was

1421
01:47:01,560 --> 01:47:07,720
of Muslim faith from Morocco and she was actually studying the Christian religion. She had some

1422
01:47:07,720 --> 01:47:13,000
questions for me. I was unable to answer. I had to call a friend, you know, but the conversation

1423
01:47:13,000 --> 01:47:17,640
with her was just an amazing, it was such a delight, you know, listening to her talk and,

1424
01:47:17,640 --> 01:47:22,680
and sharing with her my side of the story, you know, my religion and her hearing her story.

1425
01:47:22,680 --> 01:47:28,680
And it's like, you know, these are good, there are good people. There are good people of, of diff,

1426
01:47:28,680 --> 01:47:33,320
there are good people in different races. Okay. I think for the majority, most people are good.

1427
01:47:33,880 --> 01:47:43,000
I think, I think it majority of people want what's right and want to do good. There are evils in this

1428
01:47:43,000 --> 01:47:48,040
world. Okay. And that it's easier to pull someone down. It's easier to be negative. It's easier to

1429
01:47:48,040 --> 01:47:53,880
be to, to, to show that evil side and bring people over than to show them the positive and the good

1430
01:47:53,880 --> 01:47:58,040
side. But I believe for the most part, people are good. And I think if you just sit here and talk

1431
01:47:58,040 --> 01:48:03,240
with people and converse with them and say, you know, let me hear more about Judaism. Let me hear

1432
01:48:03,240 --> 01:48:09,560
more about Buddhists. Let me hear more about Dow or, or, or, or Muslim. Okay. Let me, let me open

1433
01:48:09,560 --> 01:48:13,960
my mind to that. Okay. I think that we'd get along better. So that's two things that we don't talk

1434
01:48:13,960 --> 01:48:20,600
about the dinner table. The other thing is politics. That's huge right now. Okay. Because our country

1435
01:48:20,600 --> 01:48:26,360
is being divided based on politics. And I can tell you that I had this conversation for five hours

1436
01:48:26,360 --> 01:48:32,440
last night with my brother. It didn't get nowhere. And we talked for five and a half hours. And I can

1437
01:48:32,440 --> 01:48:38,280
tell you that it's just something that you have to take the time to get to know, to, to understand

1438
01:48:38,280 --> 01:48:46,440
your net. You may never keep a calm collected head and then just try to try to explain your position

1439
01:48:46,440 --> 01:48:52,200
best you can. And if you don't understand or if you, and that other person doesn't understand,

1440
01:48:53,000 --> 01:48:57,720
come to an agreement that it's not ever going to happen, but at least you can hear it. So.

1441
01:48:59,800 --> 01:49:05,480
Yeah. What's funny is almost a thousand interviews now, as you can imagine, I've had people that are

1442
01:49:05,480 --> 01:49:12,120
super right leaning, super left leaning, most people closer to the middle. I've had all walks

1443
01:49:12,120 --> 01:49:19,880
of life as far as faith, sexuality. And the answer is, and I can tell you this from a, from an

1444
01:49:19,880 --> 01:49:23,400
interviewer's perspective, and most of the conversations are a couple of hours. So these

1445
01:49:23,400 --> 01:49:30,280
are long form talks. If you start in the middle with someone, regardless of their background,

1446
01:49:30,280 --> 01:49:35,720
and then you kind of move yourselves out and then you kind of find the outer borders and you explore

1447
01:49:35,720 --> 01:49:39,640
it a little bit. Okay. We'll go back in the middle again. You can have a phenomenal conversation with

1448
01:49:39,640 --> 01:49:44,760
almost everyone because if you sit with someone and saying, do you like, you know, the massive

1449
01:49:44,760 --> 01:49:49,240
beast in this country, do you like all your tax dollars going to treating all those sick people?

1450
01:49:49,240 --> 01:49:53,240
Do you like the fact that your kids have to worry about being murdered in their classroom?

1451
01:49:53,720 --> 01:49:57,320
Do you like the fact that, you know, our firefighters are dropping dead left, right and center. You know

1452
01:49:57,320 --> 01:50:02,680
what I mean? Every normal person is going to be like, no, no, no, we do need to fix that.

1453
01:50:02,680 --> 01:50:08,760
Doesn't matter if you, if you're blue or, you know, yellow, whatever fucking color your

1454
01:50:09,320 --> 01:50:16,920
organization aligns with, you're a human being. And so when you, what you find is as you go out,

1455
01:50:16,920 --> 01:50:21,560
the differences are small. And more often than not, like you said, with the diverse tapestry of

1456
01:50:21,560 --> 01:50:27,080
cultures in this country, if you actually see the humanity in each other, those differences become

1457
01:50:27,080 --> 01:50:33,320
beautiful. That is the, you know, the pastel colors of, of America. But if you immediately go,

1458
01:50:34,040 --> 01:50:42,120
you're the reason that slavery happened to Davis in 2024 or whatever, whatever the other side.

1459
01:50:42,120 --> 01:50:46,040
And again, ironically, if you look at pretty much every horrible thing that's happened in human

1460
01:50:46,040 --> 01:50:51,960
history, it's a few tyrants, not the entire population. I would argue that not every German

1461
01:50:51,960 --> 01:50:56,200
figured out, you know, thought that what was happening under their flag is actually happening,

1462
01:50:56,200 --> 01:51:00,200
especially as it was happening in different countries usually. So, you know, does that

1463
01:51:00,200 --> 01:51:04,440
forgive what happened? Absolutely not. But is every German to blame or every Japanese? No,

1464
01:51:04,440 --> 01:51:09,560
absolutely not. So this is the problem is that most people, I'm sure most Russians couldn't give a

1465
01:51:09,560 --> 01:51:13,640
fucking rat's ass about going into the Ukraine. They just want to watch their kids go to school,

1466
01:51:13,640 --> 01:51:18,280
work their job, keep a roof over their head. You know, so this is what we need to do. This

1467
01:51:18,280 --> 01:51:23,160
divisiveness that I see in politics. You know, I hate politics, like the debates,

1468
01:51:23,160 --> 01:51:27,800
debates are pointless. No one ever goes, Oh, you know what, you're absolutely right. I'm going to

1469
01:51:27,800 --> 01:51:32,760
change my mind now. No, but a long form conversation where you start in the middle. Imagine if

1470
01:51:32,760 --> 01:51:37,800
let's take two good leaders, if RFK and Tulsi Gabbard were the two candidates we really got

1471
01:51:37,800 --> 01:51:41,960
to choose from, and they sat down and they said, let's talk about the obesity crisis. Let's talk

1472
01:51:41,960 --> 01:51:46,760
about health care. Let's talk about school safety. Let's talk about the borders. You know, let's

1473
01:51:46,760 --> 01:51:51,080
secure the borders, but let's also give those people that have been hardworking Americans that

1474
01:51:51,080 --> 01:51:55,880
came in illegally a break. They've proven themselves for X amount of years. Let's have a

1475
01:51:55,880 --> 01:51:59,640
kind of system where, you know, if they haven't committed crimes and they've just been in a

1476
01:51:59,640 --> 01:52:04,200
workforce that we legalize them, get them to pay tax and we keep them here. As they create a family,

1477
01:52:04,200 --> 01:52:10,360
whatever that middle ground is, then most people will be like, Oh shit, whoever wins, I'm going to

1478
01:52:10,360 --> 01:52:14,920
be happy with. Like, she's my favorite. He's my favorite because we've never had a woman president.

1479
01:52:14,920 --> 01:52:18,520
You mentioned those two, but what are the, what about the two that are, that are currently running

1480
01:52:18,520 --> 01:52:24,440
for the top position? We could use it for those two. Yeah, but they're not that kind of person.

1481
01:52:24,440 --> 01:52:28,680
But my point, my point, my point being is just, just to go with what you're kind of suggesting is

1482
01:52:28,680 --> 01:52:35,720
like, it's not a bad idea, you know, but, but it's not just them. It's everybody in Congress.

1483
01:52:35,720 --> 01:52:42,920
It's everybody in the Senate. Like those hundreds of men and women in those seats have to do it too.

1484
01:52:42,920 --> 01:52:47,320
If you've watched any of those, and I know you have, but you watch those things and all it is,

1485
01:52:47,320 --> 01:52:52,520
is, is grandstanding most of the time for the, for the cameras. Yeah. And it's talking about the

1486
01:52:52,520 --> 01:52:58,040
other person. This is what I loved about Tulsi when she first kind of came up was this is what

1487
01:52:58,040 --> 01:53:02,120
we stand for. So I like RFK. This is what we need to change the vaccines, the, you know,

1488
01:53:02,120 --> 01:53:07,960
the forever chemicals, the things that he stood for, for decades. Like we know, regardless of the,

1489
01:53:07,960 --> 01:53:12,600
whatever party they hail from this person has stood by, even Bernie Sanders, everyone gives him a lot

1490
01:53:12,600 --> 01:53:17,400
of shit. Bernie has said the same thing for a long fucking time. So kudos for him for at least being

1491
01:53:17,400 --> 01:53:22,040
having the backbone to be the same. And I think he comes from a very altruistic place. I think he's

1492
01:53:22,040 --> 01:53:26,600
misunderstood. I think a lot of the money, if you actually proactively fix healthcare, for example,

1493
01:53:26,600 --> 01:53:29,720
you're like, Oh shit, there's loads of money for school now. You know what I mean? So there's even

1494
01:53:29,720 --> 01:53:36,440
that, but that aside, this is exactly that our system is broken where, as we said, a good leader

1495
01:53:36,440 --> 01:53:41,960
has humility and is a servant leader. And we don't have that anywhere, you know, and the ones that

1496
01:53:41,960 --> 01:53:48,120
are, they get squashed. So this is the issue is, and I always say, it's like working in a turd

1497
01:53:48,120 --> 01:53:53,160
factory and expecting a cupcake until you change the fucking factory. Why are you surprised that

1498
01:53:53,160 --> 01:53:58,360
the person who's running for president is a, is an asshole with a terrible history. And now you have

1499
01:53:58,360 --> 01:54:03,640
taken them, you know, and using taxpayers money to put them through a court system because big surprise,

1500
01:54:03,640 --> 01:54:08,360
they're not a human being. And I'm not saying you have to be an angel, just create a system

1501
01:54:08,360 --> 01:54:14,600
that brings the good people. So you want candidate A, I want candidate B, your candidate wins this

1502
01:54:14,600 --> 01:54:19,480
year. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm still happy because that's still a good person. We don't have

1503
01:54:19,480 --> 01:54:25,080
that. It's divided down the middle. And if your person doesn't win, then America's ruined for

1504
01:54:25,080 --> 01:54:30,280
four years. I don't remember, you know, obviously we're much younger. You're a little bit, a couple

1505
01:54:30,280 --> 01:54:39,240
years older than I am, but, um, uh, I don't remember some of the previous presidents and I, I look back

1506
01:54:39,240 --> 01:54:46,120
and I, I don't think I could support them today, but, but I don't remember some of the stuff that's

1507
01:54:46,120 --> 01:54:52,840
going on today. Then now again, I was much younger, but they were particular at least they could string

1508
01:54:52,840 --> 01:54:58,280
a sentence together that even wasn't hateful or divisive or completely, you know, incoherent,

1509
01:54:58,280 --> 01:55:03,320
you know, I mean, say what you will about, um, Obama, he was a statesman. Um, Obama was,

1510
01:55:04,520 --> 01:55:12,280
other countries, I didn't vote for Obama, not a fan, but, um, articulate, um, good looking guy,

1511
01:55:12,280 --> 01:55:18,600
um, charisma, uh, care charismatic, you know, um, he, like you said, a statesman. Um,

1512
01:55:19,640 --> 01:55:25,560
and I think that won the people over. I really do. Um, a lot of people say yes, the color of

1513
01:55:25,560 --> 01:55:33,240
his skin does play some role in that, but he did have other, um, elements that won him the presidency.

1514
01:55:33,240 --> 01:55:37,160
Yeah. He was a lawyer. I mean, he was other lots of things, but again, when he got in,

1515
01:55:37,160 --> 01:55:40,280
he crumbled on a lot of things. So that's why people are like, oh, we've got a black president.

1516
01:55:40,280 --> 01:55:43,400
Like, I don't care what color they are. I don't care what's between their legs. Doesn't matter.

1517
01:55:43,400 --> 01:55:47,400
We have someone that will actually reverse some of these issues because obesity is getting worse

1518
01:55:47,400 --> 01:55:52,280
for decades. That's both of you parties over and over and over again, Ronald Reagan, articulate,

1519
01:55:52,280 --> 01:55:57,080
you know, beloved, but again, he was also behind the war on drugs. It's created a lot of the issues

1520
01:55:57,080 --> 01:56:01,560
that we see. He's created problems too. So, you know, this is the problem is that we've got a,

1521
01:56:01,560 --> 01:56:05,720
like you said, we've got to really just find the system and it'd be the same as a fire service.

1522
01:56:05,720 --> 01:56:10,360
You know, the progressive fire departments that have, you know, fitness standards and are moving

1523
01:56:10,360 --> 01:56:15,960
to the 24 72 and, you know, I've got peer support and, you know, accounts that are on staff. If

1524
01:56:15,960 --> 01:56:20,280
there are bigger ones, that's fucking amazing leadership. That's the kind of department that

1525
01:56:20,280 --> 01:56:25,160
people are going to, you know, it's funny is I, I had, um, I was going to a couple of conferences,

1526
01:56:25,720 --> 01:56:36,200
uh, fire rescue east and, um, I, I, I met, um, uh, a, uh, I had made contact with some companies

1527
01:56:36,200 --> 01:56:41,320
while I was over there, you know, you know, you network and stuff and I had actually started

1528
01:56:41,320 --> 01:56:49,160
getting quotes for, um, uh, bringing in a professional to do some of those things, career,

1529
01:56:49,160 --> 01:56:54,840
not career counseling, but, um, what would you just say? Like, um, like a peer support,

1530
01:56:54,840 --> 01:57:00,040
but it's their profession. It's their, it's their company and this is what they charge.

1531
01:57:00,040 --> 01:57:05,240
And I went to my leadership and I said, okay, this is what it's going to cost us way too much,

1532
01:57:05,800 --> 01:57:10,760
way too much. And that's a problem because we'll go spend money on a million dollar fire truck,

1533
01:57:10,760 --> 01:57:16,600
but we won't spend, you know, a quarter of a million dollars for a program that could,

1534
01:57:16,600 --> 01:57:22,200
at the end of the day, save some, someone's life, one person's life that's worth way more than a

1535
01:57:22,200 --> 01:57:28,200
fire truck that's worth more than a fire station. And I couldn't, I couldn't make it happen. And

1536
01:57:28,200 --> 01:57:34,360
it's some of those things. It's like, sometimes you think like we'll go spend money, especially

1537
01:57:34,360 --> 01:57:39,720
in my County that I live in, we'll spend money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions

1538
01:57:39,720 --> 01:57:47,640
on a park on a park. And, but we can't spend it on, you know, taking care of our employees to

1539
01:57:47,640 --> 01:57:52,120
ensure that they're not going through this thing. And where I just gave you a couple of examples

1540
01:57:52,120 --> 01:58:00,120
earlier on in the show, you know, you've got a career long, um, of in and out of people's homes,

1541
01:58:00,120 --> 01:58:04,760
pulling people out of burning buildings, pulling people out of, uh, vehicles that are wrecked up

1542
01:58:04,760 --> 01:58:10,600
against a tree or another truck or a semi truck or underneath a truck. Okay. And I can go call

1543
01:58:10,600 --> 01:58:17,880
after call after call. It's, it weighs on those individuals. A lot of people think that, you know,

1544
01:58:17,880 --> 01:58:23,560
we have dark humor as firemen. We do, we have to, it's a way of, it's a coping mechanism. Some

1545
01:58:23,560 --> 01:58:28,680
people drink, you mentioned several of those things earlier. Um, a lot of guys just kind of

1546
01:58:28,680 --> 01:58:33,400
shrug it off and like, Oh, I'm good. I can got another, I can do another 24. And then

1547
01:58:33,400 --> 01:58:40,600
you're like, Oh, I'm good. I can do another 24. But you don't realize how that plays on your life

1548
01:58:41,160 --> 01:58:46,520
as you hit 55, 60, 65 years old. It's death by a thousand cuts. That's what I say. If you

1549
01:58:46,520 --> 01:58:52,920
weren't at the Vegas shooting or nine 11 or some, you know, extremely acute event where you can go,

1550
01:58:52,920 --> 01:58:57,320
that's why you're messed up because it's not those guys had however many years prior to that event

1551
01:58:57,320 --> 01:59:03,480
it's that unending thing. And this is why I'm so passionate about the 24 72 is if you look at it

1552
01:59:03,480 --> 01:59:09,320
fiscally these departments, because now in 2024, these young candidates are going, God, this looks

1553
01:59:09,320 --> 01:59:14,120
terrible from the outside. When you lay it out on paper as literally one of the Gainesville

1554
01:59:14,120 --> 01:59:17,720
chiefs had just had on, he had a young recruit and he had a whole like spreadsheet of all the

1555
01:59:17,720 --> 01:59:22,040
local departments and the pros and the cons. This is what we're dealing with now, which is fantastic

1556
01:59:22,040 --> 01:59:27,240
because then if they choose you and they really want to be with you, but, um, the irony is the

1557
01:59:27,240 --> 01:59:31,960
overtime, the women's comp claims, the medical retirement costs, the line of duty deaths, the,

1558
01:59:31,960 --> 01:59:38,120
um, the lawsuits when we make mistakes, when you actually fix what's broken and you give the men

1559
01:59:38,120 --> 01:59:42,680
and women the rest and recovery and they actually get to go home 99% of the time and they have

1560
01:59:42,680 --> 01:59:47,800
mandatory when we all it's on all hands event, which no one would grumble about. Then you

1561
01:59:47,800 --> 01:59:53,560
actually save all that money and there's your money now for, you know, extra people, for a peer

1562
01:59:53,560 --> 01:59:58,040
support person to be, or excuse me, a mental health counselor to be on staff for, you know,

1563
01:59:58,040 --> 02:00:03,400
that's what I was trying to say. That's what I was getting. Exactly. So, so the money is that,

1564
02:00:03,400 --> 02:00:09,560
this is what's crazy. And it's the same with America. Imagine if 10% of Americans were obese

1565
02:00:09,560 --> 02:00:15,320
or overweight. Imagine, I mean, you're talking trillions of dollars that could go into all the

1566
02:00:15,320 --> 02:00:22,280
programs. So we don't need more tax money. We need to stop the bleeding, allocating it to the wrong

1567
02:00:22,280 --> 02:00:26,840
spots and do it proactively. And the problem is ironically the fire service, one of my friends,

1568
02:00:26,840 --> 02:00:31,560
guests recently was a cop and a firefighter and he was a firefighter first. And he said,

1569
02:00:31,560 --> 02:00:36,440
I was tired of being reactive. So when I got into law enforcement, I could be proactive.

1570
02:00:36,440 --> 02:00:40,360
And it's true. Yeah. They'll respond to a shooting, whatever, but they also stop cars from speeding,

1571
02:00:40,360 --> 02:00:45,320
kind of like I did in the pot, you know, got to be a pseudo civilian cop for a second and hope that

1572
02:00:45,320 --> 02:00:50,440
in 200, two minutes later, there wasn't a rollover and a mini van full of kids killed because of

1573
02:00:50,440 --> 02:00:56,280
that guy. You know what I mean? So this is the thing that proactive mentality does save a shit

1574
02:00:56,280 --> 02:01:01,480
load of money. And that frees up resources, which then can go into all the things that we need.

1575
02:01:01,480 --> 02:01:05,800
So you've given them all rest and recovery, and now you freed up the funds for them to have,

1576
02:01:06,440 --> 02:01:10,840
you know, a mental health counselor they can talk to whenever they want. You just double down and

1577
02:01:10,840 --> 02:01:14,440
it didn't cost you a penny. You just move the money around. It's the cup game. Yeah.

1578
02:01:14,440 --> 02:01:23,800
Yeah. I will say that, you know, unfortunately, I don't know if it's going to get to that direction.

1579
02:01:24,520 --> 02:01:30,920
You know, I hear like Orange County is looking for 24 72s. That takes a lot of staffing. I know

1580
02:01:30,920 --> 02:01:35,960
they're replacing over 200 a year. They're hiring 200 and losing 200 at the same year.

1581
02:01:35,960 --> 02:01:42,600
You know, Marion was saying that every recruit they train and lose is 18 grand. So let's say 20.

1582
02:01:42,600 --> 02:01:46,840
I was doing recruitment, $4 million that they're wasting just by training people that leave. So

1583
02:01:46,840 --> 02:01:51,000
there's the money right there. Yeah. Yeah, you can. You know what I mean? I was doing recruitment

1584
02:01:51,000 --> 02:01:57,080
when I was working at Lake and I remember going to the fire school down in, um, it used to be

1585
02:01:57,080 --> 02:02:01,480
called mid Florida. I don't know what it's called anymore. Um, but I went down there and, um,

1586
02:02:02,360 --> 02:02:08,440
the number one question that I got asked in that, in that class, um, and every class that I visited,

1587
02:02:08,440 --> 02:02:15,400
every school that I visited was, do you guys do mandatory? That's that's that is, I never even

1588
02:02:15,400 --> 02:02:21,800
heard of that term when I got picked up, but that was the number one question that got asked of me.

1589
02:02:22,360 --> 02:02:26,760
And I sat there and this was my response. And I mean, it's, I'm not going to beat around the

1590
02:02:26,760 --> 02:02:32,600
bush. It was just an honest response. If you join, if you're in public safety, if you're going to

1591
02:02:32,600 --> 02:02:41,240
join in the fire service, mandatory is a normal, it's the way it is. Yeah. Um, I don't disagree

1592
02:02:41,240 --> 02:02:49,240
with you, but that I said, I said, if you want to be in this profession, mandate is a, is a normal

1593
02:02:49,240 --> 02:02:54,120
thing. I said, you can go to this department, this department, this department, you can come

1594
02:02:54,120 --> 02:03:01,160
to our department, you will be mandated. Okay. And some are mandating more than others. Some are not,

1595
02:03:01,160 --> 02:03:06,520
you know, my, my videographer today, he just left city of Leesburg back in April. He, we picked them

1596
02:03:06,520 --> 02:03:13,720
up full time for, for my company and, um, um, they were down there. They're a small department.

1597
02:03:13,720 --> 02:03:19,720
They're 12 man on shift. Okay. I think it's like three, maybe four stations. Um, they run 12 man,

1598
02:03:19,720 --> 02:03:25,720
a shift. They were down nine. So they were down an entire shift. He was getting, he and other people

1599
02:03:25,720 --> 02:03:30,600
were getting mandated. Ev he's a paramedic and they're not, they don't, they just have to have a

1600
02:03:30,600 --> 02:03:36,760
medic on the truck. Okay. And there's several, but you know, most, most I'm not, but he was getting

1601
02:03:36,760 --> 02:03:42,840
mandated once or twice a month, three times a month, you know, down a shift. And then that's an

1602
02:03:42,840 --> 02:03:52,040
ATL. There was no, there was no hiring process in, in play in like in, in place. There was nobody,

1603
02:03:52,040 --> 02:03:57,560
uh, they, uh, the department has two individuals right now that they've been hired on as

1604
02:03:57,560 --> 02:04:05,240
firefighters, but don't hold it EMT certification. You look, I didn't think so either. And I

1605
02:04:05,240 --> 02:04:10,120
questioned it. And I was like, I was like, I don't think that's allowed. Evidently there's a loophole.

1606
02:04:11,160 --> 02:04:15,480
Um, now that this has gotten national attention, your show, so someone's going to be looking to

1607
02:04:15,480 --> 02:04:19,000
it, but we're going to be seeing steamers and horses against him. We're just going back. Hey,

1608
02:04:19,000 --> 02:04:24,440
maybe, but maybe I made some changes now by making that, um, making that out, you know, putting it

1609
02:04:24,440 --> 02:04:31,320
out there, but no, the reality of it is, is that, you know, uh, it's, um, and, and guys are, you

1610
02:04:31,320 --> 02:04:35,480
know, the fire service today, it's a little bit different. You know, it's, it's funny because, um,

1611
02:04:35,480 --> 02:04:43,240
you look at things today and it's like, I want to, I want to say it's like the NBA or the NFL.

1612
02:04:43,240 --> 02:04:51,080
Okay. You think of, you think the FRS as the NFL. Okay. You can get traded. You can be a free agent.

1613
02:04:51,080 --> 02:05:00,360
Like you went to really Creek, right? FRS, right? I went to Lake FRS. I know people today that have

1614
02:05:00,360 --> 02:05:04,040
literally about, they're bouncing around from department to department. They don't want to be

1615
02:05:04,040 --> 02:05:10,600
a paramedic. So three years here, three years over here, three years over here, bam. They're still

1616
02:05:10,600 --> 02:05:15,800
on the flight Florida retirement system. They've got 12 years in, you know, four departments.

1617
02:05:15,800 --> 02:05:22,040
Yeah. So it's almost like being a free agent. So if there's not a, it's a different, different type

1618
02:05:22,040 --> 02:05:25,880
of mentality, you see how things are going and you just kind of find you're never going to be

1619
02:05:25,880 --> 02:05:31,960
officer or anything, but it is what it is. I think the other thing that is a real kind of, uh, you

1620
02:05:31,960 --> 02:05:35,880
know, we'll, we'll move the needle on this whole thing is firstly, obviously if we don't fix it,

1621
02:05:35,880 --> 02:05:39,640
we're not going to have a fire service anymore. Like if Leesburg is nine people down and there

1622
02:05:39,640 --> 02:05:45,400
should be 12, that's, you know, two pulls from Jenga. You know what I mean? The other thing is

1623
02:05:45,400 --> 02:05:50,680
the people that you serve, are they getting three quarters of their tax money back? Cause you got

1624
02:05:50,680 --> 02:05:55,480
three quarters of a shift. No, they're not. When you brown out stations, when you go from three

1625
02:05:55,480 --> 02:06:00,920
minutes, four man to three man, are they getting a tax refund? No. So if they found out that their

1626
02:06:00,920 --> 02:06:05,800
service is getting worse and worse and worse because of your mismanagement, they'll be pissed.

1627
02:06:05,800 --> 02:06:09,320
So that's the other thing is when we like, when we go to the, what about fire stations that have

1628
02:06:09,320 --> 02:06:14,200
been built that are not man. So there's, so there's a fire station that was being built

1629
02:06:14,200 --> 02:06:20,840
when I got picked up with Lake County. Okay. It serves my community, right? And it is still to

1630
02:06:20,840 --> 02:06:26,680
this day unfinished, but built now there's not one fire truck sitting in there and it's been almost

1631
02:06:26,680 --> 02:06:31,800
five years, five years. Yes. Jesus. And so again, that's probably a staffing issue.

1632
02:06:33,720 --> 02:06:38,520
It's a lot of, you know what I mean? It's a lot, a lot of things, but it's mismanagement from the top,

1633
02:06:38,520 --> 02:06:42,920
but you're telling me that there was dedicated $2 million to build that firehouse. And it might

1634
02:06:42,920 --> 02:06:47,160
have been a little bit more, but let's, let's, it's probably like probably seven or eight million

1635
02:06:47,160 --> 02:06:53,880
actually, but a $7 million firehouse, right? And where is that money? And you know, well, they know

1636
02:06:53,880 --> 02:06:57,880
they must've budgeted the people. So where's, where are the people? They're not going to build

1637
02:06:57,880 --> 02:07:01,560
a fire station without staffing. Well, they're at another firehouse. They're at another firehouse.

1638
02:07:01,560 --> 02:07:06,520
Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, this is the point, but well, I want to, I want to shift from this.

1639
02:07:06,520 --> 02:07:10,440
And this is such an important conversation. You've got an interesting perspective working, you know,

1640
02:07:10,440 --> 02:07:15,480
the whole career at Orange and then going to Lake for a bit as well. But let's talk about your book.

1641
02:07:15,480 --> 02:07:19,800
Yeah. So Alone in the Fire. Alone in the Fire. What was it that made you write it? And what can

1642
02:07:19,800 --> 02:07:24,520
people find between the covers? Okay. So, well, Alone in the Fire is essentially my story about

1643
02:07:24,520 --> 02:07:33,000
what happened in Lake Orange County. I was inspired by a friend of mine who actually did, who wrote,

1644
02:07:33,000 --> 02:07:39,000
who wrote a part of the book, the front of the book, the preface, the preface of the book. And

1645
02:07:39,000 --> 02:07:47,160
he, he inspired me back in 2014, I believe, as he had told me, he and I came on as firemen and

1646
02:07:47,160 --> 02:07:51,640
he's like, I wrote a book. I always, from that moment, I thought that was pretty cool.

1647
02:07:51,640 --> 02:07:55,560
Working on my bachelor's at the time, got into my master's and I said to myself all through the

1648
02:07:55,560 --> 02:08:00,280
fire service, one day I want to write a book and I have some other ideas on what I plan to write

1649
02:08:00,280 --> 02:08:07,240
about, especially being in the brotherhood, you know, that being the title. But when I got

1650
02:08:07,240 --> 02:08:13,720
terminated from Orange County, I knew right away that not talking about it, everybody wanted me not

1651
02:08:13,720 --> 02:08:17,320
to talk about it. The union wanted me to stay silent. Management wanted me to stay silent.

1652
02:08:18,280 --> 02:08:24,680
Everybody wanted me to stay quiet. Okay. They didn't want me to ruffle any feathers. And I knew

1653
02:08:24,680 --> 02:08:31,080
that was wrong. Okay. I knew that if I didn't talk about it, then it would go away. It would get

1654
02:08:31,080 --> 02:08:39,720
swept under the rug. Right. And so I've noticed that censor this show may get, you know, 10 views.

1655
02:08:39,720 --> 02:08:46,760
It may get thousand. It may get a hundred thousand. Okay. Um, but I noticed that things get censored

1656
02:08:46,760 --> 02:08:51,560
along the way, especially some of the topics that we've discussed today. Uh, it just gets censored.

1657
02:08:51,560 --> 02:08:54,680
The algorithm censor you, especially now during the election year.

1658
02:08:54,680 --> 02:09:01,160
Mm hmm. Trust me. I see it. And I mean, I talk about it anyway, and even with, with just a DVA

1659
02:09:01,160 --> 02:09:07,960
just for two seconds to stand in the middle again and say what happened in October 7th was horrendous

1660
02:09:07,960 --> 02:09:12,600
and what continues to happen in Gaza is also horrendous. Children are dying. Sure. That's,

1661
02:09:13,240 --> 02:09:17,000
how dare you? I've been, I think I'm, as we sit here, I'm shadow banned at the moment for just

1662
02:09:17,000 --> 02:09:23,080
saying that both the things were wrong and that we're just sitting by watching these children

1663
02:09:23,080 --> 02:09:28,680
getting slaughtered. And you know, I, I, I say that I struggle the same things with the top,

1664
02:09:28,680 --> 02:09:35,080
same topics where if I, I can't say certain things, I don't, I don't, I don't let that affect me.

1665
02:09:35,080 --> 02:09:38,760
You know, I heard something the other day, uh, Patrick bed, David said, and we're kind of getting

1666
02:09:38,760 --> 02:09:43,000
off the topic real quick, but Patrick, but David had said it about podcasting. And he says, if

1667
02:09:43,000 --> 02:09:46,040
you're doing it for the money, you're doing it wrong. You're doing it because you want to,

1668
02:09:46,040 --> 02:09:51,480
you want to share some content because you enjoy talking about certain things. He says, if you can

1669
02:09:51,480 --> 02:09:57,160
keep to that, then it will come. Okay. And so, uh, you've been doing it much longer than I have.

1670
02:09:57,160 --> 02:10:02,360
I started two years ago. Um, I'm starting to see a little bit of traction on my end,

1671
02:10:02,360 --> 02:10:07,400
but I do notice the censorship. I do notice that there are things that don't get, I, I,

1672
02:10:08,120 --> 02:10:12,360
the numbers aren't there. Like I hate getting a good numbers on one thing. And then I'm like,

1673
02:10:12,360 --> 02:10:17,240
oh, this is going to be a really good guest. And then I get nothing. I get nothing. You,

1674
02:10:17,240 --> 02:10:22,760
you, we get throttled. So anyways, um, so I do notice it, but the reason, the reason I knew I

1675
02:10:22,760 --> 02:10:26,760
wrote the reason I wanted to write a book is it was something that was already in my head about

1676
02:10:26,760 --> 02:10:31,400
writing a book, but what was the story going to be when I got terminated? I had a story. So I

1677
02:10:31,400 --> 02:10:38,440
started to work on it immediately. The problem was, is, is I had to be somewhat cautious walking on

1678
02:10:38,440 --> 02:10:43,640
eggshells because I was still in the fire service. I still had a position of authority as a figurehead

1679
02:10:43,640 --> 02:10:48,440
in the fire department. So I couldn't talk like I wanted to, like I do today, because I had,

1680
02:10:49,080 --> 02:10:54,520
I was still being governed, even though I worked for a different department, I'm still in that same

1681
02:10:54,520 --> 02:11:01,560
environment. So, um, it, I wrote part of the book, I put it on a back burner. And then when I,

1682
02:11:01,560 --> 02:11:08,200
when I left Lake County last June, um, that's when I knew I needed to revisit it. And so in January

1683
02:11:08,200 --> 02:11:13,720
of this year, I began writing it again. I did 10 weeks. Uh, I wrote it in 10 weeks and it's called

1684
02:11:13,720 --> 02:11:21,000
Alone in the Fire. And it is essentially the story of me as a young man who, um, has always been,

1685
02:11:21,000 --> 02:11:26,840
who came out with a good, good family, a good household. Uh, I talk about in the beginning of

1686
02:11:26,840 --> 02:11:33,480
the book, I talk about an event called my first alarm when I saved a young girl's life. And when

1687
02:11:33,480 --> 02:11:37,400
I, and I'll let the readers, the, those, your listeners, I'll, I'll leave that as a cliffhanger,

1688
02:11:37,400 --> 02:11:41,800
but I save a young girl's life. I was a young man, I was a young kid at the time and I save a

1689
02:11:41,800 --> 02:11:49,320
young girl's life and, uh, she's alive today because of my reaction, my proactive beha, you

1690
02:11:49,320 --> 02:11:54,200
know, I reacted, okay. More was, I guess it was more reaction, um, to the, to the situation,

1691
02:11:54,200 --> 02:12:02,920
but she's alive today because of what I did. And that was the door to say you're going to be

1692
02:12:02,920 --> 02:12:08,280
someone who takes care of people, who saves people's lives, who protects people, who, um,

1693
02:12:08,920 --> 02:12:16,680
s uh, is someone who saves people's lives. Okay. Um, so others may live. Okay. And, um,

1694
02:12:19,000 --> 02:12:26,120
so my, my story, it talks about how I, I developed into leadership from, from my faith based

1695
02:12:26,120 --> 02:12:30,840
in the church, going in through something that's similar to the boy scouts, uh, in the, in the

1696
02:12:30,840 --> 02:12:35,560
church program, um, into the military, into the fire service and then going into the leadership

1697
02:12:35,560 --> 02:12:43,960
roles. But in the, in my book alone in the fire, I also discuss what happened and I go into detail

1698
02:12:43,960 --> 02:12:49,240
on the specifics, like what people were feeling at the time. Like we were stressed out, we were

1699
02:12:49,240 --> 02:12:54,840
exhausted. We have been wearing masks. We had been wearing, we had been isolated from our friends,

1700
02:12:54,840 --> 02:13:00,840
our families, from things that we enjoy doing, like going into the gym and, and, and having a good

1701
02:13:00,840 --> 02:13:06,600
dinner, you know, and, and, and people losing their loved ones and can't even spend the time with

1702
02:13:06,600 --> 02:13:12,200
them as they take their last breath. And we're going through this as a society and these are all

1703
02:13:12,200 --> 02:13:18,040
the stressors. Now, now add on everything that a firefighter sees during this time and then add on

1704
02:13:18,040 --> 02:13:26,040
everything I just said. Okay. You're still running those horrible, uh, uh, uh, uh, traumatic incidents,

1705
02:13:26,040 --> 02:13:32,200
those scenes still commanding, seeing people lose everything because of a fire, lose their families

1706
02:13:32,760 --> 02:13:37,720
and you're having to cope with it. And the only thing you're getting is, well, you got to work

1707
02:13:37,720 --> 02:13:43,960
tomorrow. Sorry, bud, you know, and it's just complete disconnect. And so I knew that I had

1708
02:13:43,960 --> 02:13:49,160
to talk about it and I knew that I had to write about it and I knew that I had to put it down

1709
02:13:49,160 --> 02:13:55,400
so more people could read. So the idea behind the book was to tell my story, uh, not to make money,

1710
02:13:55,400 --> 02:14:03,240
but to tell my story so that it, it empowers others because I was one man of, I was the only

1711
02:14:03,240 --> 02:14:08,200
person who stood up, the only person that said something, the only person that came out and said,

1712
02:14:08,200 --> 02:14:15,000
we are, we should not be doing this. I was alone in the fire and I still came out. Now I, I tell

1713
02:14:15,000 --> 02:14:18,920
you that I have a Christian background. I have, you know, part, one of my chapters is called

1714
02:14:18,920 --> 02:14:23,400
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And if you know that, if you're, if you're of Christian faith,

1715
02:14:23,400 --> 02:14:27,240
um, or maybe you're not of Christian faith, but you know, the story is three men who wouldn't bow

1716
02:14:27,240 --> 02:14:32,200
down to an idol. They've, uh, the King was their friend. They essentially wouldn't bow down to his

1717
02:14:32,200 --> 02:14:38,040
idol and he threw them in the furnace and he was even more pissed off because they were his

1718
02:14:38,040 --> 02:14:43,160
friends and they refused to listen to him. Take a knee, take a knee and bow to my idol.

1719
02:14:43,720 --> 02:14:50,360
He turned up the heat on the furnace. The soldiers that threw them in died on, on, uh, on exposure.

1720
02:14:50,360 --> 02:14:56,600
Okay. The three men ended up being unburned is how the story goes, uh, the biblical story.

1721
02:14:56,600 --> 02:15:02,840
And then there's a fourth man, um, in the fire with them. Well, that's the, that is God sending

1722
02:15:02,840 --> 02:15:08,200
his, his protective angels around those three men. So I believe I was alone in the fire,

1723
02:15:08,200 --> 02:15:13,560
but then again, I was not alone in the fire. I, I've been having protection the entire time.

1724
02:15:13,560 --> 02:15:18,280
I haven't fallen off my feet and people say, I'm glad you landed on your feet. I haven't

1725
02:15:18,280 --> 02:15:25,640
fallen. I've been, I've been carried, uh, this entire time. I've, I've been, I've, um, um,

1726
02:15:26,280 --> 02:15:32,360
been walking just fine. Um, I might have stumbled a little bit, but I'm, I'm still working, working

1727
02:15:32,360 --> 02:15:37,880
hard. And so that's what I want people to know about my book is, you know, I, I talk about,

1728
02:15:37,880 --> 02:15:43,240
you know, what Orange County did to me, how they covered up, you know, um, they covered up

1729
02:15:43,240 --> 02:15:49,000
quite a bit of documents that would have exonerated me after the second month, like in, in my step two

1730
02:15:49,000 --> 02:15:54,280
grievance was in December. It was only, you know, less than a month and a half after my termination.

1731
02:15:54,280 --> 02:16:01,880
And had they presented, uh, documents that I didn't know about in that step two, I could have

1732
02:16:01,880 --> 02:16:06,840
been exonerated. I would have my job back right then and there. I lost my step three in February

1733
02:16:07,560 --> 02:16:13,720
of 2022 and I immediately got pissed off because I honestly thought that I was going to get my job

1734
02:16:13,720 --> 02:16:19,880
back then I got pissed off. I started spending tons of money on, uh, public records and started

1735
02:16:19,880 --> 02:16:24,680
pulling everybody's record, everybody's personnel files, every, every written reprimand, every

1736
02:16:24,680 --> 02:16:30,120
document that was sent by email. I looked everybody up, text messages, phone calls, where

1737
02:16:30,120 --> 02:16:35,160
they were driving to everything. And I started uncovering quite a bit of stuff. Well, the most

1738
02:16:35,160 --> 02:16:40,280
important thing that I uncovered, and this is why this is why I filed the lawsuit was I found out

1739
02:16:40,280 --> 02:16:46,280
that the person that ended up terminating me, that gave me the direct order was the person who

1740
02:16:46,280 --> 02:16:53,480
hid the documents. She ended up having an email that said exactly what I was saying and it showed

1741
02:16:53,480 --> 02:16:58,520
that the individual had a religious exemption and they hid that document from my, from the people

1742
02:16:58,520 --> 02:17:03,560
making the decision to keep my, to bring my, bring me back. And they hid that during my step two,

1743
02:17:03,560 --> 02:17:10,280
my step three. And that's when I got pissed off. And so the book, it tells the story in detail.

1744
02:17:10,280 --> 02:17:17,880
It calls the people out by name. Um, and it also provides the receipts. So at the back of the book,

1745
02:17:17,880 --> 02:17:23,480
it's, it's the receipts. It's every, it's not everything because, um, if I were to give

1746
02:17:23,480 --> 02:17:31,320
everything in the, in the appendix, then, um, um, then you would, um, be overwhelmed because it's

1747
02:17:31,320 --> 02:17:38,360
so much to, to, to really grasp. Um, that's the job of my attorney, but, uh, you get the idea,

1748
02:17:38,360 --> 02:17:44,360
you know, uh, religious exemptions that were denied, um, people email stating that the

1749
02:17:44,360 --> 02:17:51,800
documents were in fact destroyed, um, religious exemptions that were never, uh, um, termination

1750
02:17:51,800 --> 02:17:56,520
or a written reprimands that were never officially filed. All of it, all the receipts are in the back

1751
02:17:56,520 --> 02:18:03,000
of the book. And so when you read, read my book alone in the fire, you'll see, you'll hear my story

1752
02:18:03,000 --> 02:18:10,280
and how I made the decision I made because of my background, you know, everything from a young man

1753
02:18:10,280 --> 02:18:14,600
growing into going into the military, going through church, going into the military and the fire

1754
02:18:14,600 --> 02:18:20,600
service, gaining a lot of traction. And, and, you know, um, you know, I was a well, well-liked

1755
02:18:20,600 --> 02:18:25,320
person. It's not that I was an asshole in fire service. I wasn't, you know, someone that was

1756
02:18:25,320 --> 02:18:30,920
rogue. You know, I just had an opinion and I wasn't afraid to say it. And I was respectful all the

1757
02:18:30,920 --> 02:18:39,560
time, but I had an opinion and, um, it cost me my job because it was a political time. And, uh, I,

1758
02:18:39,560 --> 02:18:42,680
I think that those people still need to be held accountable. And so that's what the book's about.

1759
02:18:43,320 --> 02:18:49,400
Where can people find the book? So, uh, I send everybody to my website. It's chief, Steven

1760
02:18:49,400 --> 02:18:58,840
Davis.com and that's spelled, uh, chief, uh, C H I E F Steven S T E P H E N Davis, D A V I S.com.

1761
02:18:58,840 --> 02:19:03,560
You can also go to a loan in the fire.com. Either one will get you to the book. Uh, chief day,

1762
02:19:03,560 --> 02:19:08,600
chief, Steven Davis.com. It kind of, um, I'm starting new things. Like if you're looking

1763
02:19:08,600 --> 02:19:13,160
at, uh, leadership events, I'm looking at getting into leadership events, uh, more,

1764
02:19:13,160 --> 02:19:18,200
more, uh, I'll be putting out more books. Uh, I got, um, this one is alone in the fire. Uh,

1765
02:19:18,200 --> 02:19:24,280
first alarm, uh, second alarm is, is, uh, being, being worked on here real soon. Um,

1766
02:19:24,280 --> 02:19:29,480
um, I'll probably start that one next year, but, uh, second alarm will be coming third alarm,

1767
02:19:29,480 --> 02:19:36,040
so on and so on, but it's going to be a series has a lot to say. And so, um, but yeah, chief,

1768
02:19:36,040 --> 02:19:41,800
Steven Davis.com. Um, you can find my book. It's, um, I've been told it's an excellent read.

1769
02:19:43,400 --> 02:19:51,160
I obviously, uh, think so. Um, but, uh, I would appreciate anybody's support. Um, just, uh, to,

1770
02:19:51,160 --> 02:19:56,280
you know, again, it's not for me to make money. It's not what I'm doing. I, I, I want people to

1771
02:19:56,280 --> 02:20:02,360
have it in hand and tell the story because to me, I think it's going to empower you. If you're going

1772
02:20:02,360 --> 02:20:07,240
through this, maybe you're alone in the fire. I'm hearing, you know, John was, uh, alone in the fire

1773
02:20:07,240 --> 02:20:12,120
over there in LA, you know, and I just heard of a police officer going through some stuff today.

1774
02:20:12,120 --> 02:20:17,320
As she was going through the appellant court, I just won my appellant court hearing. Um, it's taken

1775
02:20:17,320 --> 02:20:27,320
a year. Um, the, the, um, um, the judge dismissed my case last summer and I've, I've essentially

1776
02:20:27,320 --> 02:20:32,840
been in the appellant court fighting it to try to say, look, no, you've missed this. You've missed

1777
02:20:32,840 --> 02:20:38,840
this. And if anybody knows about what goes on in the court system, the appellant court is one of the

1778
02:20:38,840 --> 02:20:45,160
hardest outside of the Supreme court, one of the hardest courts to have reversed. And it's less,

1779
02:20:45,160 --> 02:20:52,280
I think a 5% chance and we were able to pull it off. And so the judge, um, ruled in favor of my

1780
02:20:52,280 --> 02:20:58,600
case. He basically, uh, instructed the lower courts to look at it again and to rule in a different way.

1781
02:20:59,240 --> 02:21:06,440
So, um, that, that doesn't keep me from, um, I'm still still in the woods to looking to get out.

1782
02:21:06,440 --> 02:21:13,000
So I still got a long road ahead, uh, in my, my legal battles, but my legal battle is, um, is,

1783
02:21:13,000 --> 02:21:17,560
is, is fighting the government and they've got unlimited amount of money. Orange County is a

1784
02:21:17,560 --> 02:21:23,560
billion dollar corporation. And, uh, you're talking about, you know, a guy with a family that doesn't

1785
02:21:23,560 --> 02:21:28,600
make that kind of money. I wish, but you know, I've got to put up, I've got to put up, they want to,

1786
02:21:28,600 --> 02:21:33,080
they want to hold out. We've been fighting this for two and a half years. The appellant court just

1787
02:21:33,080 --> 02:21:39,160
ruled in our favor. And so we've got still a long, I've got to depose a lot of people. Um, there's,

1788
02:21:39,160 --> 02:21:43,800
there's many, many senior staff that are getting deposed. There's the fire chief, there's, uh,

1789
02:21:43,800 --> 02:21:50,680
government employees, uh, civilians, there are, uh, firemen, lieutenants, captains, chief officers

1790
02:21:50,680 --> 02:21:55,720
that are all on the list that are going to be deposed. And that's not cheap. So any, any help

1791
02:21:55,720 --> 02:22:00,840
at all, uh, chiefsteveday.com, you can, there's a donate option in there. It helps with, you know,

1792
02:22:00,840 --> 02:22:06,120
a lot of things. And obviously, you know, the book is, is a huge, is a huge sell. You get something,

1793
02:22:06,120 --> 02:22:10,680
um, to empower you. Beautiful. Yeah. I think when I was talking to Greg, you know, the, the

1794
02:22:11,240 --> 02:22:17,000
conversation now, the same as the, the missed, you know, opportunity to change the health side

1795
02:22:17,000 --> 02:22:22,520
is also the government overreach side and the lies. And, you know, so if we're just going to,

1796
02:22:22,520 --> 02:22:25,800
you know, brush it under the carpet, which is hilarious, cause that's exactly what it was,

1797
02:22:25,800 --> 02:22:29,960
you know, literally overnight, we don't want to talk about anymore. Like, uh, timeout wait,

1798
02:22:30,920 --> 02:22:35,320
you know, you were calling me a fucking, you know, heretic cause I was talking about obesity

1799
02:22:35,320 --> 02:22:39,880
and, you know, mortality rates. And now you just don't want to talk about it when it's a 50% efficacy

1800
02:22:39,880 --> 02:22:45,400
on the vaccines and you acknowledge that six feet and most masks were bullshit and we'll just forget

1801
02:22:45,400 --> 02:22:50,280
it. Nah, no, sorry. Otherwise history is doomed to repeat itself. So whether it's your book or

1802
02:22:50,280 --> 02:22:55,480
this episode and Greg's episode and John's episode, these are powerful testimonies to prepare

1803
02:22:56,120 --> 02:23:00,440
people for the next one. Because if we've learned nothing, it's going to play out exactly the same

1804
02:23:00,440 --> 02:23:05,320
way. See, one thing, one thing too, I'll say is a lot of guys in, in Orange County, they don't

1805
02:23:05,320 --> 02:23:11,880
realize that the policies that were in place back in 2020, 2021, they're still there. They never

1806
02:23:11,880 --> 02:23:21,320
removed them. So if by some chance another pandemic happens, I'd say when, cause it will,

1807
02:23:21,960 --> 02:23:26,280
you know, especially these policies are still in place. These policies are still in place.

1808
02:23:26,280 --> 02:23:31,400
And here's the thing, because no one's addressed it in the last three years, it's kind of fallen

1809
02:23:31,400 --> 02:23:35,480
to like, well, this has been in place since 2021. No one said anything. So they're going to play

1810
02:23:35,480 --> 02:23:40,520
that game. So I'm giving you, I'm giving you the tactic of what's going to happen. I'm already

1811
02:23:40,520 --> 02:23:45,240
telling you what's going to happen. It's just a matter of when it's going to happen. These

1812
02:23:45,240 --> 02:23:50,040
policies where they can force you to take a vaccination, whether it's going to cost you a,

1813
02:23:50,760 --> 02:23:55,240
you can't have the job unless you get it, that's in place right now. If you want to promote

1814
02:23:55,240 --> 02:24:00,920
it, if you want a promotion, you have to get this. That's, that's in policy. They're not enforcing it

1815
02:24:00,920 --> 02:24:06,120
because they're letting it die down, letting it die down. Once there's certain people in

1816
02:24:06,120 --> 02:24:11,000
certain positions of power, you can't stop it. We were fortunate here in the state of Florida

1817
02:24:11,000 --> 02:24:15,720
because of a governor. Okay. He did a good job with that. He did a good job. You know, we were

1818
02:24:15,720 --> 02:24:21,800
fortunate in other States because of governor senators, Congress people, you know, leaders,

1819
02:24:21,800 --> 02:24:30,840
sheriffs, okay. Chief officers that stood up. But if you don't, don't look at this, if you stay quiet,

1820
02:24:30,840 --> 02:24:36,840
if you stay complacent, if your only concern is whether you're going to get your paycheck in two

1821
02:24:36,840 --> 02:24:41,960
weeks, then you're part of the problem, not the solution. And you'll be seeing this again.

1822
02:24:43,160 --> 02:24:50,680
I really believe that, you know, you are more than insert blank, a fireman. Okay. You're more

1823
02:24:50,680 --> 02:24:55,880
than that. So don't think that you can't stand up and say something in fear that this is the only

1824
02:24:55,880 --> 02:25:03,000
thing you knew. I was later in my career and the only thing that I knew was a fire service. I

1825
02:25:03,000 --> 02:25:08,440
dedicated everything. That's what I focused on everything. And I was able to, I was able to do

1826
02:25:08,440 --> 02:25:15,960
it. And I'm no, I'm no better than anybody else. I'm just, I'm just a simple man that had, you know,

1827
02:25:15,960 --> 02:25:23,080
was able to do it. So, you know, that's, that's my, that's my advice. Beautiful. Well, it's been a

1828
02:25:23,080 --> 02:25:28,520
long time since we sat at station 51 talking about shift change, but who'd have thought you'd be,

1829
02:25:28,520 --> 02:25:32,600
you know, doing what you're doing and I'm doing what I'm doing now. But it's been, it's been so

1830
02:25:32,600 --> 02:25:36,920
good to kind of circle around and touch base. Like, you know, the first interview, you literally

1831
02:25:36,920 --> 02:25:42,600
just, you know, it's just, you know, and now two years later to see, you know, what happened with

1832
02:25:42,600 --> 02:25:47,000
the pandemic and obviously the good side of it, everything going back to arguably normal. But

1833
02:25:47,000 --> 02:25:51,160
like I said, the, the power of these takeaways, the power of these testimonies and, you know,

1834
02:25:51,160 --> 02:25:55,800
some other great conversations from fitness and work weeks to empowering people if they're ready

1835
02:25:55,800 --> 02:26:00,840
to transition out that they can go forward another path. So I want to thank you so much for a great

1836
02:26:00,840 --> 02:26:15,800
conversation. Yeah.